A few days ago when I wrote Hiring follow-through I forgot to include an essential ingredient that both assures your new people that you value their input and enables you to improve your hiring process still more.You initiated a bonding process during the interviewing and offer stage, escalated it during your post acceptance actions and set the stage for it to swing into high gear on start day.

Normally a new employee spends much of the first day or two setting up her space, voicemail, email, etc. and filling out forms-insurance, IRS, and so on.

One form worth adding to the list is an interview evaluation form.

Handled correctly it will accomplish two major goals.

• Making her comfortable with the idea of critiquing peers and bosses at the beginning of her tenure creates a strong bond of trust and tells her that her feedback is important.
• Gathering the information while it’s still fresh from people who successfully navigated your hiring process offers a totally different perspective from that of those on the inside and is invaluable in improving and fine-tuning the process.

Here’s a sample form; you should tweak it for your own situation.

Interview Evaluation

In order to compete in today’s business climate, it’s critical that we’re able to hire the best people possible-people like you! As part of our continuing effort to improve our hiring process, we ask that you take a moment and fill out this form. Please be candid; if there is information that you feel is pertinent, but you’re not comfortable writing it down, we hope that you’ll discuss it privately with whichever manager you chose.

Name:____________________________________________________________

Position:__________________________________________________________

Manager:__________________________________________________________

Date of: Phone int. ____ First int.____ Second int.____Hired _____

We’d like your honest opinion of the following:

How was your phone interview; and

how can we improve it?

How was your in-person interview(s); and

how can we improve it/them?

Was the information about the position and its potential comprehensive and consistent among interviewers?

Was the information about our culture comprehensive and consistent?

How was your after-interview process; and

how can we improve it?

Additional comments, including any thoughts on making our hiring process better!

Use this evaluation with every hire, not just certain levels or positions. For example, you learn more when you find that an admin candidate was poorly treated in an unexpected way than when an exec is kept waiting a few minutes. Both are useful information, but the first may uncover attitudes that conflict with your culture and wouldn’t show up in the normal course of things.

Here’s another of my life rules that I’d like to share with you.

This one is actually an ancient Chinese proverb and is the true secret of learning and growth.

As with most real wisdom, it hasn’t lost its meaning or its value over the ages.

I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.

Kevin Dwyer’s guest post yesterday gives excellent information on the benefits of using Johnson and Scholes Cultural Web. In a sense, the part described is the middle of cultural change.

The true beginning is in the MAP of the CEO who must desire and support the changes or they won’t really happen. In fact, that’s the main reason why culture so often changes when the top person changes. (One of the most glaring examples of this is Robert Nardelli, who quit GE when he was passed over for the top job; was fired (may require free registration) from Home Depot, but not before destroying the culture and sending attrition rates at all levels soaring; and who just became CEO at Chrysler, which should make for an interesting show for culture-watchers and case study writers. As you may have guessed, I’m not in the pro-Nardelli camp.)

Culture always looks like the boss, even when it bubbles up from the workers, since it’s the boss who allows and enables it to bubble up and then supports its implementation.

When seeking to change a culture it’s critical to identify the source(s) of each trait displayed in your Cultural Web (Power Structures, Organisational Structures, Rituals and Routines, Symbols, Control Systems, Myths and Stories). If the source, CEO/boss, senior executive, etc., isn’t willing to change their MAP enough to let go of the previous approach then change is not only difficult, but unlikely.

Sometimes the bottleneck isn’t a person, it’s tradition, usually some variation of, “…we’ve always done it that way.” But tradition is habit and habits are part of MAP.

Assuming that you’re not the bottleneck, it’s your responsibility as a leader to not only engender, but also facilitate, MAP changes in those below you; doing the same in those above you is far more difficult and often ends up an exercise in futility.

Successful change, whether in your own MAP or in others, isn’t just a function of how open you/the person is, but of what level of trust is inherent in your organization. No one is going to admit to a problem, let alone to being the source of it, in a culture where the messenger is killed.

Finally, getting people to change their MAP is similar to getting alcoholics to stop drinking-you can explain the importance, appeal to their intelligence, threaten their livelihood, use any other coercion you dream up, but it won’t happen until they choose to change.

As always, moving forward means change and changing is a private decision that each of us makes consciously or not, in large and small ways on a daily basis—and that’s really the bottom line.

I had an interesting call from a marketing exec in response to my mention of Think and Grow Rich. He called to thank me, saying he had completely forgotten about it.He said that he’d read it during college, it had been a revelation and he credited much of his success to the way it changed his thinking. He then asked me if I thought that giving a copy to each of his people could impact his group as it did him.

We talked for some time, but here is the gist of my answer.

First, just handing out copies of a book because the manager thinks its valuable rarely has the desired impact. The impact of this particular book would be even lower because the book’s language and idea presentation is “old-fashioned” and that, in itself, turns many people off.

I suggested that he start by using the well-known quotes I listed in the course of his group’s interactions. They’ve been paraphrased many times, so it would be simple to mention their original source as interesting trivia in the course of a conversation and describing the impact the book had on him. Obviously, this needs to be tailored to the circumstances, but he should get some sparks of interest.

Once he has those sparks he needs to build the fire carefully, since the goal is for his people to want to learn more as opposed to his trying to force it on them.

After the fire catches, he can offer to provide copies for everyone in conjunction with a set time to discuss the book. A brown bag lunch discussion, with the company supplying the lunch once a month, is usually a winner.

I also suggested that rather than limiting the discussion to Think and Grow Rich he should invite people to add ideas and commentary from other sources they’ve read. This makes for a richer discussion, draws people in and deepens their ownership of the whole idea.

Taking the philosophical information and making it work to the benefit of both the group and the individual is the real goal and should be plainly stated. I’ve found that people love learning “intellectual” stuff far more when it gives them practical advantages in everyday life.

Like all of you, I dearly love compliments, and I received a great one this week. After just 17 months writing MAPpingCompanySuccess I was invited to write Leadership Turn for b5media. Too cool!

All coaches/consultants/mentors bring their own philosophy/approach/spin to a subject and I’m no different. My focus has always been on what I call MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)™, because we are what we think.

I believe that how you think sets the stage for what you do. In other words, if the thought and the action aren’t in sync then you lose authenticity—and you can’t be a successful leader if you’re not perceived as authentic.

The best example I’ve seen of this was a district sales manager we’ll call “Jim.” Jim’s office was known for its individualistic salespeople and somewhat erratic production. It never won high office sales awards in spite of having several of the company’s top producers, while “Brad’s” office won top honors year after year without individual stars.

On one hand, Jim craved an office like Brad’s, but on the other, he belittled the “rah-rah” tactics that Brad believed in and used to motivate his team.

Jim tended to hire people like himself (a common managerial tendency)—gregarious loners who also didn’t respond to team tactics and motivation. When Jim paid for a professional, day long, team-building program it fell flat. His people thought it was corny and knew that Jim didn’t believe in it either; beyond that, Jim didn’t change his own leadership style of benign neglect.

Simply stated, Jim had no interest in changing his MAP, so there was no authenticity in his actions.

People aren’t stupid! Assuming they are and proceeding accordingly is a recipe for disaster, whatever size group you’re leading.

The greatest insight on leadership and my all time favorite description dates to somewhere around the fourth or fifth century BC and doesn’t drip ego.

As for the best leaders,
the people do not notice their existence.
The next best,
the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate…
When the best leader’s work is done,
the people say, “We did it ourselves!”
To lead the people, walk behind them.
Lao Tzu

I’m looking forward to presenting ideas and information on leadership, but I especially look forward to your thoughts and comments. They’re what will make this a more valuable resource for all of us, since one person never knows it all.

For some really fascinating reading check out Business Week’s The Future of Work, covering a myriad of topics and issues for managers, career info and guidance for workers and profiles of what and how technologies are changing the work-world.

Especially interesting is the survey of 2,000 Americans in middle management and above, 25 years and older, on work, now and in a decade. Some of the responses were expected, some surprising, some sad, a few hilarious, but all are interesting. Here are a few of my favorites:

Now

• 90% of managers think that they’re among the top 10% of performers in their workplace. (LOL/ROF)
• 11% of men, vs. 5% of women, are scared of their spouse.
• 36% say people got more done before the era of email.
• 6% of respondents under age 30 have accidentally called their boss mom or dad.

Ten years from now

• 82% believe that self-fulfillment, as opposed to fear, will be the most powerful workplace motivator.

However many of the individual of articles you choose to read, there is one particular piece of intelligence that had better penetrate your brain.

Whatever your business, large or small, global or local, at all levels, you’d better concentrate on retaining your talent, all your talent, top to bottom, because it’s becoming more and more irreplaceable, as well as more and more expensive when you do—a trend that won’t be slowing down any time soon!

Beyond work, career path and even money corporate culture is the reason people join companies—and the reason they leave. They join because they fit and leave when the culture changes because they no longer do.

In an interesting WSJ column today, Carol Hymowitz compares the cultural attitude and style of two CEOs, Bob Nardelli, ex-CEO of Home Depot and new CEO at Chrysler, and Ron Sargent, promoted to CEO at Staples five years ago.

Nardelli is a favorite example of what not to do culturally, whereas in 2002, Sargent said, “On my first day as CEO, I put on the black pants, black shoes, and red shirt that our associates wear and headed to our Brighton store. We opened the very first Staples store in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986, and by going there, I tried to rally the Staples troops around a concept that I call “Back to Brighton.” It’s a symbolic message to the members of our organization that we’re going to improve service and refocus on our core customer base: the small-business customer.”

Great cultures spring from CEOs who understand their true roles, i.e., to provide broad guidelines and enable their people to develop more targeted ideas that shape and reshape the culture as the company grows, but keep it from straying too far from its roots.

To have the most productive employees, you must build a partnership. As in any partnership, each side needs to contribute specific things to ensure the success of the operation

And although the efforts are equally valuable yours must come first, because it’s your contribution, as their manager/leader, that enables your partners’ to contribute their share.

Although what you need to do can be summed up in a few words, the effort required to actually do it never ends.

What you do—you must respect them all and treat them fairly, help them grow to reach their true potential and then not limit their upward mobility because it inconveniences you.

What you get—your people will respond by going the extra yard, working the extra hours, becoming, if they aren’t already, real 10 per centers.

Your payoff—your reviews and promotions will reflect the high performance and increased productivity of your group, whether it’s a team, department, company, or something in-between.

Your retribution—if you try to fake this attitude and pay it lip-service only, your people will know, if not instantly then within months. The result will be low productivity, a high rate of attrition, rotten reviews and no promotions.

As always, it’s your choice.

In hiring, as in any endeavor, follow-through is everything. Yesterday’s post talked about defusing the three most common post-acceptance bombs, and a previous one gave you doable approaches to outboarding, but you can still drop the hiring ball after the fact if you stop the day she starts.

During those first days, as she gets her feet on the ground, take time to go over the outboarding information to get some feel of where her knowledge is now and what are the biggest gaps, the ones that will slow her productivity. Be careful to make this a positive experience—you don’t want her to feel like it’s finals week.

Once you have a sense of where your new hire is, ask her what she needs to hit the ground running, really listen to her—most people know where they are weak, what they need to ramp up and they want to make it happen; they know they are happiest when they are super-productive, able to make a real contribution, learn, and get ahead—then follow-through and get it for her.

In the days that follow, provide continual, constructive feedback, so she knows exactly how she’s doing.

That’s especially true for actions or behavior that are, or could be, a problem; you want to address them immediately. It’s far easier to “nip it in the bud” on a friendly, informal basis than to let it escalate into a major situation.

You’ve invested a lot of time and money in acquiring every one of your employees and building a world-class team, group, department, or company. It’s just plain stupid to ignore, even for one day, anything that will damage those efforts. Early intervention is key to avoiding human-based problems, and that is your real job as a manager.

Be the manager who does all this and your reviews will soar, your reputation will spread in your industry and people will stand in line to work for you.

If your corporate culture stresses hiring as a core competency, you already know that when the candidate accepts and signs the offer is not the time to relax, because, after all your effort, you don’t want to lose him to cold feet, difficulty in resigning or counter from the current employer. People waver because they aren’t water faucets. They don’t turn off emotions and feelings in the morning when they leave for work. They’re present in all their chaotic, sloppy splendor—but rarely admitted or discussed. Many of these emotions and insecurities surface during traumatic times, and changing jobs, even voluntarily getting out of a terrible situation, is one of the great traumas that people face.

The best way to deal with this is to openly discuss their existence.

Even if a headhunter is involved, you still want to discuss these things, since this is another opportunity to bond with your new employee. Because these points are in the same category as closing questions you want to use the same technique—bring up and shut up!

Buyer’s Remorse
Everybody knows the term “buyer’s remorse.” Realtors and salespeople of big-ticket items are intimately familiar with it. It’s that sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach immediately after signing a big-commit document of any kind. That’s what some candidates feel within 24 hours of accepting and signing an offer letter. Sometimes it’s serious, other times only a knee-jerk reaction. Recruiters say that even candidates who hate their current position get the feeling.

If you believe you need to address it, then it is important to do so at the time of acceptance. A good way to bring it up is by using yourself as the example—even if you’re one of the fortunate few who aren’t affected. Try to use an example that is real, whether it happened to you or to someone you know, but f you create it, be sure you can carry it off. If it sounds fake, the candidate will pick up on it and may feel patronized. The approach you use, whether serious or light, depends on the candidate.

In many cases remorse never really hits home until the person resigns and then it’s “ohmygosh, what-have-I-done time!”

This brings us to the next minefield.

Resignation
Resigning is not easy. It’s not comfortable. People don’t like doing it. The longer they’ve worked for the manager/company, the harder it is, especially when nothing is really wrong in their current position.

Start by asking when she plans to resign, whether she’s comfortable with the process, what she thinks her boss will do, has she written resignation letters before, does she expect a problem. (Note: These are all closing questions.) Listen carefully! You are looking for clues to what will happen when she resigns. Then zero in on the areas she needs support or assistance and open a discussion.

The craziest resignation through which I’ve coached a manager follows, with names changed to protect everybody.

Jerry, an engineer, accepted another position and went to his boss, Tom, and told him he wanted to quit. Tom said he was busy and they could talk about it Monday. On Monday, Jerry found out his boss was out of town for one week. The hiring manager, Jean, called Jerry on Monday to see how the resignation had gone. He told her what happened. Jean suggested he write a letter to Tom and copy HR. She offered to help with the letter and suggested a specific phrase be used: irrevocable decision. The letter went like this:

Dear Tom, Please accept my resignation effective June 15. I have made an irrevocable decision to pursue another career opportunity. I want to thank you for the opportunity of working at Dumptech. I’ve learned a lot during my time here and believe that l I’ve also contributed towards the company’s success.

Yours truly,
Jerry Trent

cc: Human Resources

Jerry put the letter on Tom’s desk, took the copy to HR, and had the requisite “won’t you change your mind” talk. His boss never acknowledged the resignation, but on Jerry’s last day, a Friday, Tom said something about “discuss it on Monday.” Jerry said it was his last day. Tom flipped out, claiming that Jerry had never resigned, etc. HR finally intervened, saying that the engineer had resigned and that Tom had been notified.

Obviously this was a manager in denial, big-time. But variations abound, especially in a hot labor market or with an exceptionally talented person whom managers aren’t going to let go lightly.

This brings us to the third minefield.

Counteroffers
Counteroffers are counterproductive. They hurt the company, the group and the individual. The ones that work are the exception to the rule—probably less than 5%.

As far back as 1983, the WSJ National Employment Weekly was printing articles warning about the dangers of accepting counteroffers. Nothing has changed, if anything, it has gotten more so.

Counteroffers come in other forms than the obvious ones of money, stock, position, duties, etc. The worst happen during the hottest hiring cycles. Companies/managers have used guilt, fear, and intimidation in their counters—some even hire industrial psychologists to craft them.

First, ask your candidate how she thinks her current employer will react to her resignation; listen carefully and stay quiet until she’s responded; then address the specific issues, no matter what they are, in a friendly, concerned way.

Focus on the fact that you haven’t hired a clone, so it’s likely that some, or even all, of her concerns may be non-issues to you, but that doesn’t devalue them or reduce their impact on her. With honest effort you can defuse 98-99% of them, but the other 1-2% are up for grabs no matter what you do.

If all this sounds like a lot of extra work, recognize that she is no longer a candidate, but an employee, and you are her manager—and that’s what managers do.