Human Resources: Can Your Team Compete in the New Market Place?

Once you have determined the seats needed, move to Step 1 in our book “No More Rotten Eggs: A Dozen Steps to Grade AA Talent Management.” Create and/or update the job descriptions that define the skills needed for each seat. You have new technology and new customer needs. Whatever you do, don’t wing it. Those times are over.

Next, decide if you would rehire your existing employee for the updated position. This may sound a little strange, but you need a Grade AA team to thrive. Each person needs to be able to fulfill every part of the job requirement. If they are not the right person for the position, replace that person with a top performer. To help make that decision, I recommend Wonderlic testing to see if they have the intelligence, personality profiling to see if they have the right behaviors for the position, and emotional intelligence testing for staff in leadership or sales roles. These tools make it easy to find out if the fit is right.

For each of your current staff members make a decision: “Retain and Retrain” or “Replace.” Make sure they have the right competence and personality and the level of engagement needed for the job and a proven set of skills before making that decision. Believe me, the job of retraining suitable, engaged staff will be much easier than replacing them. Skill shortfalls are much easier to fix than competence and personality.

On the other hand, if they have neither the skills nor the personality and engagement that the job calls for, make the hard decision and move them out. If you act now, you stand a better chance to find good candidates. If you procrastinate, you will be fighting the same old battle for top performers and might not get the talent you need.

Look at what McKinsey & Company reported in their study, War for Talent, about the benefits of having top performers. The right people in the right spots will provide:

• 40% increase in productivity (operations)

• 49% increase in profits (management)

• 67% increase in revenues (sales)

Remember—talent management begins with you. Don’t hesitate! Recovery from this recession will take planning, determination and action!

Debra Thompson is president of TG & Associates. Her latest book, coauthored with Bill Greif, “No More Rotten Eggs—A Dozen Steps to Grade AA Talent Management,” has been published by McGraw-Hill and is available through bookstores everywhere or at www.NoMoreRottenEggs.com. Contact Debra or Bill at info@tgassociates.com for information on the tools that will help you evaluate and elevate your team.