Bob Corlett is the founder and President of Staffing Advisors. He developed The Results-Based Hiring Process® and is one of Washington’s best known thought leaders on staffing and recruiting. Thousands of HR executives and business leaders receive Staffing Advisors’ popular newsletters and read his blog – The Staffing Advisor. In his volunteer work, Bob runs the Staffing Alliance of Maryland Employers.
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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.
Recessions do not hurt companies equally. Strong companies survive tough times by taking market share from weaker companies. As a result, every small mistake your company makes is likely to get punished. Sometimes brutally. Strong survives and mediocre fails - capitalists call it “creative destruction” and it’s a driving force behind economic growth - but if you are on the wrong side of it, it just feels like destruction.
The CEOs I talk to these days tell me they are looking around and saying, “This is who is going to take me through the downturn? I don’t think so.” In tough times, you can only afford the best and the brightest on the payroll.
Here’s what’s amazing. In tough times, you actually can afford the best and the brightest. Job opportunities are fewer, strong companies are even more attractive, and top people gravitate to job markets like Washington where employment prospects are still good. I call it the Great Talent Migration.
Top performers relish challenges, they are exactly who you want on your side when the chips are down. They live to get results. They are attracted by the challenge.
The fastest, most predictable way to attract top performers is to be clear about the results you want and how hard it’s going to be.
You can learn more about The Results Based Hiring Process® on my Web site, and I’ll talk more about that in future postings. But for now I’ll leave you with this: Whether you engage our services or not, it’s time to trade in those mediocre people for someone you can trust to watch your back in the downturn.
