Page 149 - Becoming a Successful Manager

140 BUILDING ON YOUR FOUNDATION

Hone Your Skills Before

You Need Them

Hiring the best person for a job starts by delineating exactly what
the person must be able to do to perform the job most effi ciently
and effectively. The best way to know what you are looking for is
to write down exactly what you expect of the person who will fi ll
the position, because you can’t fool the discipline of facing a blank
piece of paper. To see for yourself the value of writing down your
expectations, complete the following exercise in your manager’s
journal.
Hiring staff is typically a signifi cant part of a manager’s
responsibility, and with every hire, you must do it right the fi rst
time in order to gain optimum productivity. If you make a bad
hire, the person probably won’t last very long on the job, and you’ll
have to go through the process all over again. This is a poor use of
time and is expensive to boot.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “A bad hire will
cost a company the equivalent of that employee’s salary for a six-
month period.” It certainly won’t take very many of these to have
a serious impact on your bottom line. A bad hire can be a sub-
stantial mistake, but it’s one you can avoid by using your profes-
sional skills. Try the suggested exercise with a few people in your
department now. Don’t wait until there is a vacant position. This
allows you to practice fi rst and perform later. Your strategy is to
hone your skills before you need them in an actual situation.
Again, be specifi c about what you want to accomplish, and
then practice, practice, practice. Too many managers shoot from
the hip or act on instinct. If you do either of these, you might be
lucky and make a good hiring decision, but it’s more likely you’ll
make an expensive error.