Determining the Formula for Hiring the Best People

Wow! That’s the first reaction I had to a presentation made by Ed Ryan before a standing-room-only crowd at the Decorative Plumbing & Hardware Association (DPHA) breakfast at the 2006 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show. Based in Chicago, Ryan specializes in the areas of recruitment, selection and management of personnel.

The truth is our team members make us tick. They are responsible for our successes, our failures and for much of the angst that showroom owners experience. Ryan provided a new perspective on recruiting and retaining a showroom’s most important asset – a perspective that will benefit anyone who hires or manages employees.

Ryan began his presentation by quoting Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. In Good to Great, Collins’ research team found that there were 11 companies that outperformed the Dow by a factor of at least three over a 15-year period. Many of these companies came as a surprise because they were not high-tech, high-profile, cutting-edge or in glamour industries. Good to Great describes the common traits each of the 11 companies share.

“We expected to find that the first step in taking a company from good to great would be to set a new direction, a new vision and strategy for the company, and then to get people committed and aligned behind that new direction. We found something quite the opposite. The executives who ignited the transformation from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out how to drive it…If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great,” he quoted.

The question, however, is how do you do that? How do you know who the right people are and what seats they should or can fill on your bus?

For Ryan and Collins, the operative key is who instead of what. Ryan makes a strong argument for defying conventional interviewing and assessment techniques commonly used to recruit staff. He questioned the value of using job descriptions to help interview prospective staff because they are not an effective measure of a candidate’s fit in an organization. “Companies hire people; they don’t employ a job,” he stressed.

Ryan noted that you cannot interview and successfully select new staff members based primarily on the information on a resumé. In fact Ryan advises against looking at resumés to find the information needed to hire the right candidates for the right positions. He noted that human resource surveys have found that 40% of people lie on resumés, and an even higher percentage embellish. He said, “A resumé is a balance sheet without liabilities.”

Nonetheless, most people hire based on the experience of applicants as reflected on their resumés. Ryan’s guidance is to create a blueprint of behaviors that are needed to succeed in your organization and the position available. You can’t afford not to, as he noted that the cost of a poor hire is approximately three times the salary.

Applying Ryan’s guidance to a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom requires understanding the different behavioral traits required of different positions. A key component of Ryan’s methodology is that behavior is constant and difficult to change. He also noted that the attitudes of most people at work are similar to their attitudes at home. Behavior cannot be taught. It’s difficult to explain to someone how to be nice if that’s not an existing behavioral trait.

To help identify the behavioral benchmarks you need to hire more effectively, look internally. If there’s a superstar in your organization, identify the traits that he or she demonstrates that make that person stand apart. What behaviors does that person have that make him or her tick? What motivates that employee? How does he or she think, act and interact with others? These are as important, if not more important, than an ability to merchandise, manage cash flow or sell. Who, then what. The who has to come first.