Page 69 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

Keeping the People Who Keep Your Business in Business 49

excitement, enthusiasm, and passion—provided you hire win-
ners, promote winners, and keep those winners as long as pos-
sible.

According to consultant T. Scott Gross, author of
Outrageous! Unforgettable Service ...Guilt-Free Selling (AMA-
COM, 1998), every interview should be an extraordinary audi-
tion. Why? Because auditions create competitive spirit and

enthusiasm for the job and they give the potential employee a
shot at demonstrating his or her employee morale in action. It’s
a performance, after all, and talent rules at an audition!
Set up auditions so that candidates exhibit behaviors
required for the job. If the job requires selling, you might ask

candidates to introduce themselves, the company, and some
products or services. If the job requires handling customer
questions and complaints, you might ask some employees to
play the part of customers, to test the candidates under fire. If
the job requires basic skills—math, computer, writing, or what-

ever—you can test those skills in a realistic setting.

Auditioning for High Morale

Suppose that you’re hiring a marketer for Hoola Hoops R Us.
During your usual interview process, you determine that a candidate’s
basic qualifications, competencies, and personality all look fine, but you
really need someone in this position who’s filled with high energy and
bursting with gusto about marketing your hoops to Baby Boomers’
babies. How do you know the candidate has what it takes to sustain
his or her motivation and morale over the long haul?
Morale-boosting guru T. Scott Gross recommends asking candidates
to audition.You can do this in various ways.
One way is to have the candidate deliver lines from a monologue
you’ve prepared, either straight from your script or personalized to
make them sing with enthusiasm and passion for the job.A monologue
might start out like this:“Hi, my name is _____ and I can’t wait to tell
you all about my job here at Hoola Hoops R Us ….”
Then, watch candidates soar with the opportunity to really turn it
on or buckle under the pressure.All of a sudden, enthusiasm for the
job isn’t so hard to measure, is it?