Cash for Clunkers

You’ve probably seen the ads on TV.  The government has a very popular new program which encourages people to trade in less efficient vehicles for more efficient vehicles, it’s called cash for clunkers.   Well, the government incentives unleashed a huge wave of pent-up demand for new cars and might burn through $1 billion in funding for the program in a week.  So why would I talk about that on a staffing blog?

Well, although I don’t expect to see a government program for it, many employers still seem to need an incentive to trade in their mediocre performers.  You see, despite all the downsizing that has occurred, most employers still have a few clunkers for employees.  People who were perhaps well suited to their jobs a few years ago, but who are not well suited to doing their jobs in the current environment.   Like a gas guzzling SUV,  they start (projects), run (meetings), and do pretty much what is expected of them, but not very efficiently.  They are not bad, they are just not well suited to the current fast paced, turbulent, less predictable, more entrepreneurial environment. 

Harvard Business Review recently ran an article entitled “What Are CEOs Talking About Now?”  The author was a bit surprised how much CEOs felt that “the layoffs and cost cutting are behind them.”   Instead the leaders were interested in seizing the opportunities “while staying prudent with day-to-day operations.”     Similarly, in my consulting work with small and midsize employers, I see where the easy cuts have been made, where firms have eliminated the lowest rung of underperforming employees, but now are stymied as they launch aggressive growth initiatives.  The really bad employees are gone, but the mediocre ones remain, and what is becoming increasingly clear is that these “less energy efficient” people are just not driving change initiatives very effectively.

I’ve written before about how many of us avoid confronting poor performance,  about company culture can stymie change, but the problem of underperforming leaders often remains. 

So here’s the deal, if you have a clunker, come to me.  I’ll trade-in your current employee, and find you a shiny new, more energy efficient model AND save you $4,500 off of a traditional search fee … and we won’t use a dime of government money to do it.  (Limited time offer, while supplies last, some restrictions apply, tax, title and license fees are extra, batteries not included, offer not available in all states, offer void where prohibited by law, limit of 6 per customer, not available in all stores)

Are you Making “Opportunity Hires” or Just Letting the Job Market Go to Waste?

One of the top 5 recommendations in the 2009 Guidance from the Corporate Executive Board is to “Use Today’s Crisis to Court and Cultivate Tomorrow’s Winners.”   And, if you are not making “opportunity hires” you are missing a golden opportunity to upgrade your workforce.  An “opportunity hire” is when you set out to fill a position, but in conducting that search, you find someone so good, you cannot pass up the chance to hire them as well.   At Staffing Advisors we have never charged anything for an “opportunity hire” – rather, we encourage it.  (If you engage search firms, this would be a good time to negotiate with them to give you the ability to do the same).

A recent article in the Washington Business Journal highlighted the unique approach Staffing Advisors used to help the National Park Foundation make two critical hires, one targeted hire and one opportunity hire.   As the economy begins to rebound, your window to take action is narrowing.    Many employers will look back on 2009 as the year they spent needlessly worrying instead of hiring the people who could fuel their growth.

The Misplaced Loyalty of the CEO

There is a consistent theme emerging from my conversations with CEO’s lately.  Loyalty.  While many people enjoy bashing Fortune 500 CEO’s for showing no loyalty to employees – and for dumbsizing, the bigger issue for smaller organizations is too much loyalty.   I see too much loyalty to long-time employees who are not performing, and too little loyalty to everyone else who is.   Truth be told, I’m not really a fan of Jack Welch, but he did have an interesting column about misplaced loyalty in BusinessWeek.

Most business leaders really struggle with their loyalty to long-time employees who are no longer effective, and while I think loyalty in general is both admirable and good business . . . blind loyalty is not.  It is dangerous.   The context matters. 

Sometimes the person’s performance just waned over time – they “got comfortable”,  sometimes the person was simply over-promoted (Think: Peter Principle), sometimes the person took on a job that appeared similar but required different skills (Think: salesman promoted to sales manager), perhaps the most common is when a growing company simply “outgrew” one of the original employees.  

Increasingly in this recession, the problem person was a good steward of a function during normal times, but simply cannot adapt to the chaos of the current environment.   They resist change, ignore market signals and get in the way of new initiatives – doing what is comfortable and familiar, instead of what is right.

My conversations with CEO’s generally go something like this:

How to Make the Most of the Economy Right Now

Bob Corlett

Come join me on February 18th when I talk to the Montgomery County Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (MC-SHRM).

The topic is “Recruiting in a Recession:  How to make the Most of the Washington Economy Right Now.”  We’ll be talking about what recruting strategies are working best right now and how employers can best take advantage of the current job market conditions.   Since I am the speaker, naturally we’ll be talking about  my favorite topics including:

• Trade-in Time – How you can trade in your mediocre people for better people.
• The Great Talent Migration – Highly qualified people are moving to Washington DC because of our strong job market- so get ‘em while they last.
• Hiring for Performance - How can you raise the bar on  performance expectations with your new hires?
• What the CEO Wants from HR – what kind of conversations should HR be having with senior management right now?

Registration is only $20 for non-members.  Bring me your toughest recruiting challenge, but leave those rotten tomatoes at home - no hecklers please!

The Absolutes … are Absolutely Wrong Right Now

I’m wary of absolute sentences.  They lead to lazy thinking…and a dangerous paralysis.   So let’s review a few absolutes you hear pretty frequently right now.  

“Nobody is buying cars.”    Except 746,789 people did in November.  Yes, that was down 37% but it was hardly nobody.  Personally, I would be very happy to have “nobody” buying search services from us, but it might take us some time to gear up for 746,789 searches.

Here’s another absolute – “everyone is laying off people.”  Except very very few of my clients are downsizing – I can think of exactly two, and one was just cleaning up a few performance problems that should have been addressed a very long time ago.

And my personal favorite – “nobody is hiring right now.”  Except I have four clients who are determined to get offers on the table this week.  Their biggest problem?  The candidates they want to hire have multiple job offers.   No kidding.

Don’t succumb to lazy thinking in absolutes.    Don’t let the recession be your excuse to fail…or to stop thinking about how to succeed, and turn it to your advantage.

“Let’s wait and see what happens in January” sounds good on the surface, except with critical hires, it means you realistically won’t get them in place until almost second quarter.  

The Recession Survival Guide – It’s “Trade-In” Time

Ok, we’re in a recession - it’s official.  So fear and panic are evident in decision-making and mostly we see people frozen in place.  Waiting to see what happens.  And not driving results.

Do you know who in your organization will get you through the downturn?  Look around.  Your top performers are still driving results, taking on new responsibilities, trying new things, improving your current processes, cutting expenses, suggesting new ideas, challenging outdated thinking, doing work on their own time, solving problems and accepting the reality of the current market without making excuses. Anybody not doing this is just wasting your salary budget.

Sadly, most performance review systems don’t really identify the people you need most, because what it took to succeed last year is not necessarily what it takes to succeed right now.   In these turbulent times, you might need more people in one department and less in another, or you might suddenly need people with very different skills.  There is nothing like a downturn to shine a bright light on your mediocre people.   So if you can’t tell who to keep and who to cut, you might be tempted to follow the herd and implement a hiring freeze, or just be sluggish in hiring (which has the same effect).   Except here is the problem.  A hiring freeze locks in place your mediocre performers and prevents any better people from getting in.    Big mistake.  

This is the time to freeze the budget, but not the people.  It’s “Trade-In Time” – when you can finally afford to replace your underperformers with winners. 

You Can’t Afford Mediocre People in a Recession, but Surprise! Now You Can Finally Afford Great Ones…

Employers should always demand top performance from their employees, but in good times you can get away with having a few mediocre people on your team. As long as they don’t break anything, they can come to work every day and enjoy the “rising tide” of increased opportunities. After all, a rising tide lifts even mediocre boats. In good times, like on a “T” ball team, everyone is a winner. Top performers actually drive most of the results, but everyone benefits from the success.

In tough times, though, mediocre people reduce your chances of survival. Customers demand more for their money, easy wins are few and far between, and nothing is easy. Mediocre people consume time, money and management attention and mostly just get in the way.