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and accomplishments, it is especially important when they are working through the stress and pressures brought about by change. Start with their needs, questions, and issues.

•Listen. When employees find themselves undergoing change in their work environments, they want to talk about it—with their coworkers and with their managers. While it’s your job to keep your employees apprised of the situation, it’s also your job to listen to them. Instead of cutting them off or jumping into the middle of their statements, allow them to vent or fully express their fears or concerns.

•Seek feedback. Be sure to seek ideas and feedback on dealing with change from your employees. The best ideas often come from workers on the front lines—the people who work most closely with your customers and the products and services that you sell them— and you should be sure to tap into this important resource.

•Explain the potential for change. People do not like to be surprised by change in their jobs or organizations—especially when they are the ones most directly affected—and everyone appreciates being kept informed about potential changes in the environment that might lead to a future crisis. Being informed not only helps employees become better prepared to deal with the coming change but also makes them feel that they are important and valued partners in the organization (which they should be).

•Don’t sugarcoat the truth. You may think that your employees would much rather hear that everything is going to be okay when it’s really not. What your employees want to hear is the truth— what the real problems are, what you’re planning to do about them, and how your employees can help get past the coming change—and not some sugarcoated version of it. And when things get really bad, being straightforward and honest with your employees during a crisis will not only help you get through it but also continue to pay dividends in employee goodwill after the crisis has come and gone.

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•Get employees involved. Giving employees some measure of control over their destiny at work by encouraging them to take part in discussions and decision making will improve their morale while providing you with a valuable source of expertise that you might be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

•Keep the vision alive. One of the most important things that leaders do in organizations is to paint a vision for the future. While an organization’s vision gives employees something to strive for when things are going smoothly, it is especially important in times of great change when chaos and confusion often reign. When things are at their worst, a compelling vision stands as a shining lighthouse that will both inspire your employees in trying times and guide their efforts toward a common purpose.

P O P Q U I Z !

A fundamental issue in managing today is managing change in a positive and productive way. After reflecting on this chapter, answer the following questions about change in your life and role as a manager:

1.What is your most common approach to change, and how does that help or hurt you in situations you encounter?

2.What effective strategies have you used when you felt confused or overwhelmed in your life?

3.Have you ever helped a friend or associate who was going through a difficult period? What seemed to be most helpful to him or her?

4.Are there warning signs you could have noticed leading up to a crisis you’ve experienced? Could you have dealt with things in a way that diverted or minimized the problem?

5.What are three benefits of change that you can get excited about?

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IIP A R T

Leadership: The

People Thing

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C H A P T E R 3

V

Hiring and Retaining the

Very Best People

IT’S A NEW WORLD OUT THERE . . .

Hiring and . . .

How to find (and keep) the very best people.

The hiring process explained.

Where to find the best candidates.

Interview skills demystified.

Picking your best candidate and making an offer.

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HIRING (AND KEEPING) GREAT PEOPLE

Finding and hiring the best candidates for a job have never been easy. It’s your job, however, to first understand exactly what qualities you’re looking for in your new employees, and then to identify them in your job candidates. Here are some of the qualities that most employers look for when hiring new employees:

•Hard working: There’s nothing that will throw a manager into a paroxysm of rage faster than having an employee who slacks off and who doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the words “hard working.” Employees who are willing to work hard often go above and beyond the call of duty in serving customers and in attending to the needs of their organizations. As competition in global marketplaces continues to heat up, employees who go above and beyond the call of duty may be the one thing that differentiates organizations that succeed in the long run from organizations that don’t.

•Good attitude: By “good attitude,” we mean people who are positive, friendly, and willing to help customers, clients, and coworkers. As you question potential job candidates, it’s important to try to get some idea of what they’ll be like to work with for the next 5 or 10 years. Skills are important, but attitude is even more important. As highly successful Southwest Airlines puts it: “Hire for attitude, train for success.”

•Experienced: Experienced employees are worth their weight in gold. Not only are you more likely to get a better, higher quality work product in less time, but you’ll also have someone that is ready to perform at maximum potential in a few days rather than the weeks or months it would take to train someone who is not experienced.

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When you interview job candidates, be sure to take the opportunity to ask very pointed questions that require your candidates to demonstrate to you that they can do the job.

•Go-getter: This quality is the ability to take initiative to get work done. In an Internet survey that Bob conducted for his book,

1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work (New York: Workman, 1999), initiative was ranked as the top reason that employees were able to get ahead where they work (which makes this quality something both you and your potential new hires should be interested in).

•Team player: It’s almost a cliché that being able to be a team player and to collaborate with others is a critical work skill in today’s organizations. But cliché or not, teamwork is necessary to the success of today’s organizations and the ability to work well with others is a definite must for employees in any business or industry.

•Smart: People who are smart are able to solve problems—and solve them quickly. But keep in mind that, in the world of business, work smarts trump book smarts every time.

•Responsible: Employees must take responsibility for their work; employees who constantly try to shift the blame for their problems to other people or other things are employees you cannot afford to employ. Look out for the little things—like showing up for the interview on time—which can be key indicators of your candidates’ sense of responsibility.

•Stable: Stability is an important quality in the employees you hire; the last thing you want is to hire someone today and then find out that he or she is already looking for the next position tomorrow. Consider how long the job candidate worked with her previous employer and why she left.

So much depends on your identifying and hiring the right people— you can’t have a great organization without great people. Far too few managers make this task a priority, instead devoting as little time as

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T H E B I G P I C T U R E

CHUCK ROBINSON

Cofounder, M Ship Co.; Member, Nike Board

Question: Why create?

Answer: Being creative is important, and there’s no reason to exist if you’re not creating. For me, innovating technologically something that has commercial potential is my form of creativity. And if you’re not creating, you might as well be six feet under. If you can’t leave the world different than you found it, what’s the reason for being here? If you’re not bound by tradition, you can step back and ask if there is a better way of doing something. I did it in mining, in land transportation, in ocean transportation, and now in boats. It’s creating and being willing to do things differently than they’ve been done before because you feel technologically that there is a way you can improve on the way it’s been done before. I had the largest independent mining operation and I had the largest dry cargo shipping operation, which came from nothing. My stockholders put $6 million into developing a mine in Peru. That’s all we had to get started. But from February to May of that year, we started shipping iron ore, and by the end of the year, I had generated enough cash to pay back the money that they lent. From that time on, they never put in another penny. And this was all done from nothing. It was leading yourself by your bootstrap but, because I had nothing, I wasn’t handicapped by experience. I just did things and I had confidence; when I felt I was right, I had confidence in moving forward.

Question: Do you need employees with special qualifications to be creative?

Answer: No. When I joined the board of Arthur D. Little, in the first board meeting I was told that the greatest asset they had was 1,200 people that had their doctorates. At the time the company was making about $3 or $4 million a year. And I got this long lecture from the

(Continued)

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