And how some employers are paying the price of being too lazy.
One of the most common questions asked by business owners is “How do I motivate my staff?” There are two reasons why you do not have motivated staff and they are you either hired staff that lack motivation or YOU disengaged them (made them unmotivated).
This article will give you four rules to ensure you hire a motivated staff member.
Firstly a person’s past behaviour will be a great indicator of their future behaviour. In fact behavioural scientists believe 88% of anyone’s behaviour is locked in place by the time they are 20.
So here are the golden rules for selecting motivated employees.
Rule One: When someone applies for your vacant position you tell them who you want to contact for their reference. Do not be lead by the candidate to contacting someone who is their friend, associate or fan. Remember they are marketing to you, so you need to cut through the smoke and mirrors and get some real facts.
Rule Two: Only contact references of someone who owned the business or managed the business, the candidate worked in, anyone else is not in a position to reliably give you feedback on the candidate’s workplace behaviour.
Rule Three: When you ring a reference you must ask precise behavioural questions and the one you want to use is: Did this employee consistently show they were motivated to achieve their daily goals? The word consistently is vital because you need to emphasise that you are looking for an answer based on a behaviour that is seen every day, not a behaviour that comes and goes like the seasons.
Rule Four: You must ring three reliable references, because time and time again, the third reference will reveal something that you really needed to know about the candidate. Three references are far more reliable than two and I my experience a real behavioural trend is only confirmed when you have rung three highly valid contacts.
You might ask, “But what about someone who is new to the workplace?” New employees will still have shown a track record or behaviour in the places they have undertaken work experience, in their studies, in their sport or in the other groups that they socialised in. It is perfectly fine to ask a sports coach or lecturer for a reference.
Anything less is negligent
When investing in a new staff member you are investing in a relationship. If you do anything less than follow these four golden rules, in my experience, you are either lazy or being negligent. Picking up the phone to ask precise behavioural questions will save you all the emotional pain and energy of having to deal with unmotivated employees, unless of course you are the cause of their disengagement.
Committed to hiring the right person the first time round and recovering all the costs of the campaign!
David Osborne
About David Osborne