And knowing how to define greatness
I have never met a CEO or business owner who didn’t want great people on their team. Unfortunately, many of these same executives report disappointing results when hiring to this standard.
What’s going wrong? One key step we often overlook is defining what “great” means to us. The definition of greatness varies for every organization, and we can’t expect to achieve it unless we can articulate what “great” is.
Defining greatness
Using our EOS business system, we define great people as the “right people” in the “right seats.” Sound familiar? Well, if you read Jim Collins’ classic Good to Great, then you’ll recall references to getting the right people on the bus. We take this even further by exploring areas that are critical to greatness:
1) Your organization’s core values (i.e., your culture)
2) Roles/responsibilities for each function you’re hiring to manage
Item #1 equates to hiring the right people — making sure you hire people who align with your organization’s culture. This has nothing to do with someone’s ability to effectively do a job. We address that item next.
Item #2 requires you to clearly articulate the top roles and responsibilities for each function of the organization that needs to be supported. Once this is clear, you apply a test called GWC to evaluate your potentially great candidates:
Get It (they absolutely understand the requirements of the position)
Want It (they truly want to do the work – it’s not just a job)
Capacity to do it (they possess the talent and skills to perform the job)
The better you get at hiring those who meet the criteria on both sides of the equation, the more successful you will be in attracting and retaining great people.
Imagine the impact on your business as you get more great people on board!
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Your GWC is great — an effective and easy-to-follow system. I’ve witnessed too many companies — even large publicly held firms — using a willy-nilly hiring process. It’s such a hugely overlooked/underestimated issue that I’m devoting an entire chapter to it, in my forthcoming book.
How can anyone expect to have a culture of remarkable customer service if they’re not strategically and thoughtfully hiring people with customer service in their “DNA?”
Excellent, straightforward, easy-to-follow advice here!