Hey Contractors Here Are The Staffing Systems That Build A Championship Team
n another article titled When it’s time to add staff, you
How Contractors Get Rich, I need to roll out a recruiting
introduced you to the six system that will generate a large
systems that control the fate of pool of good candidates. You need
your construction business. To the recruiting system to work
refresh your memory, they were: quickly. You need it to
pre-qualify the candidates so
1.Marketing that you don’t spend a lot of
2.Sales time sorting through unqualified
3.Staffing resumes and interviews.
4.Planning
5.Tracking Write help wanted advertisements
6.Financial Control that sound like sales pitches for
your company. Don’t let your help
Today, I am going to expand on wanted ad sound like you are
the nine components that form doing the candidate a favor. Make
your staffing system. it sound like the candidate is
doing you a favor by joining your
Do you remember that the firm.
objective of a staffing system is
to recruit and retain a team of Know which help wanted
highly motivated and skilled advertising outlets work best for
employees? The popular analogy is the types of workers you need. In
getting the right people on the some markets, neighborhood papers
bus and putting them in the right work well, in others
seats. To do that, you need CraigsList.com works best, and
systems for: for professional positions
Monster.com often excels.
1. Advertising Job Openings
List both the minimum skill set
the ideal skill set you are making skills, problem solving
looking for. Don’t go crazy with skills, and time management
the required experience. If you skills are often far more
have created skill development important in most construction
systems, look for candidates with positions.
the right raw materials
(abilities and attitude) then That said, there are certain
mold them into super performers. interviewing techniques that will
help you make better hiring
Have template for writing decisions. The primary one is
different types of help wanted asking open-ended questions. Ask
advertisements: shorts ads for the candidate how he would handle
newspapers, long ads for the a problem that might arise in the
internet, work fairs, and position. Ask him to explain how
community bulletin boards he dealt wit a similar problem in
(churches, civic centers, etc.) the past and what he would have
done differently the next time.
2. Interviewing
Know which questions to ask, know
Interviewing is difficult. how to ask them, and then stay
Despite what hundreds of human silent until the candidate
resource professionals claim, answers.
there is virtually no fool-proof
way to interview. Individuals Always check references and
with superior people skills are listen closely to what they say.
the ones universally selected. Their feedback is often the most
revealing and predictive
Of course, superior people skills information you’ll get. Negative
are only essential in sales and comments will be stated very
leadership positions. Decision subtly. Learn how to read between
the lines. each position and it should list
the major tasks to be performed,
If you are hiring a manager, ask the standards the tasks should be
for references from at least two performed at, and identify the
of his or her former tasks of highest importance.
subordinates. Direct reports know
whether a manager knows how to All tasks that need to be
lead or not. Rarely does the performed in order for the
manager’s boss. company to be successful must be
documented on at least one of the
If possible, have the candidate job descriptions. If the task
meet with multiple staff members. isn’t on a job description, odds
are the task will not be done.
3. Creating and Updating Job
Descriptions 4. Communicating Performance
Expectations
When workers clearly understand
their role and their relationship Job descriptions are not enough.
to their co-workers, they are Performance expectations must be
more productive, make better explained. That requires
decisions, and tend to work face-to-face discussion.
harder. When workers don’t
understand their role, quality, Verify your employee understands
productivity, and job your expectations. Have him
satisfaction suffer. repeat them back to you in his
own words. If he is catching on
Job descriptions are the tool to what you’re trying to
used to establish clear roles and communicate, he should have
responsibilities. A job questions. When he doesn’t have
description should be written for questions, assume he doesn’t
understand your expectations. non-performers. The fear of the
Repeat these conversations as unknown makes owners hesitate to
many times as necessary. pull the trigger. They usually
figure that the devil they know
Keep an eye on performance. When is better than the one they
performance slips, remind your don’t. They figure a firing, no
employee of his job matter how justifiable, will hurt
responsibilities your performance morale. T
expectations.
Here’s the rub: good workers
5. Monitoring the Market’s Wage can’t stand working along side
Rate bad workers.
You are in competition for good It’s your responsibility to fire
workers. You compete on many a poor worker, not theirs. It’s
different fronts, the two primary your company and they expect you
ones being wage rate and work to staff it properly.
hours. You need to keep a close
eye on what the market is paying If one of your workers is falling
for people of like skill. Paying short of performance expectations
below that rate is risky and will and you think letting him go
most likely leave you with an might be the right course of
under-motivated or under-skilled action, go talk to the people he
staff. You can’t afford either in works with before you make your
the construction industry. final decision. They’ll give you
an honest answer and more often
6. Dismissing Non-Performers than not it will be: get rid of
him.
One of the biggest challenges
employers face is terminating 7. Developing Employee Skills
When you implement systems that What that means is when the
help employees develop their company succeeds, the success
skills you benefit in three ways: should be shared with the
employees who made it happen.
1.They work faster. When success isn’t shared,
dissatisfaction and jealousy
2.Their loyalty to your company start spreading like a wild fire.
increases greatly.
You need a system for
3.You increase the pool of legitimately identifying and
potential employees your company rewarding superior performance.
can hire. The systems needs to be simple
explain and easy to understand.
You need a system for evaluating
skills, setting skill It takes more than skills to be a
development goals, and creating high performer. It takes a solid
learning opportunities. work ethic, a sense of duty, and
focus on the job at hand.
Raising the skills of your
existing staff is the surest way Those characteristics are
to improve your competitive somewhat rare and need to be
position and bottom line. rewarded. By rewarding them, you
make the employee feel valued and
8. Rewarding Superior Performance you help set an example for their
co-workers.
Something often forgotten by
business owners: the company When you fail to reward superior
isn’t just theirs - it is performance, you send the message
everyone’s who works there. that all performance is equal.
That’s a bad message to send. It You need a system that helps you
de-motivates the better workers accurately determine an
and emboldens the poorer ones. employee’s real skill set. Then
you need to compare the skills of
9. Promoting the Right People your employees against the
demands of the position. The best
Selecting the right person for match is the one who should be
promotion is tricky. Here’s why: promoted.
the skill set demanded by the
higher position is often far To review, here are the nine
different than the skill set staffing systems you need to
needed at the lower position. build a great team and grow you
Often, people who excel at the company profitably:
lower position are wired to fail
at the higher one. 1. Advertising Job Openings
2. Interviewing
The opposite is also true. Great 3. Creating and Updating Job
leaders and managers often make Descriptions
horrible front-line workers. 4. Communicating Performance
Selection is not as easy as "This Expectations
guy is my best worker so he’s the 5. Monitoring the Market's Wage
one I should promote." Your Rate
system for choosing someone for 6. Dismissing Non-Performers
promotion should be as thorough 7. Developing Employee Skills
as your system for selecting 8. Rewarding Superior Performance
someone to join your company. 9. Promoting the Right People
About the Author:
Ron Roberts, The Contractor's Business Coach, teaches contractors how to turn their businesses into money making machines. To receive Ron's FREE Contractor Best Practices Newsletter visit http://www.FilthyRichContractor.com.
Published At: www.Isnare.com
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