Page 104 - How to Drive the Bottom Line with People

Built to Serve

successfully. Far too many organizations subscribe to
a “needs-based” approach to hiring. In other words,

no serious recruiting, interviewing, or actual hiring of
talent takes place until a specific need arises. This
approach is especially popular in numbers-oriented

cultures because the organization is measuring itself
against a predetermined published labor budget for
the quarter.
A needs-based operation creates complicated and
drawn-out procedures requiring multiple approvals

before any additional employees can be hired. The
time between identifying the need for a new person
80
= and receiving approval to make the hire causes a

steadily increasing strain on team members because
they are shorthanded. Once approval is granted, the
shorthanded team is so eager for help—of any kind—
that a decision is made to hire a “warm body,” with
little time given to assessment of the individual, which

is the same as allowing a fan on the team.
Hiring “warm bodies” allows impostors to pene-
trate organizations. Too often, “warm bodies” fail to

appreciate the organization’s vision, much less its val-
ues. Ultimately, needs-based operational management
handicaps a team’s ability to win before it ever faces
the competition.