Golden Oldies: Insanely Smart Retention and Stars
by Miki SaxonIt’s amazing to me, but looking back over a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written. Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.
I’ve never been a fan of so-called stars. Bosses constantly waste their time, not to mention their budgets, looking for stars. As with everything, stars are often a product of a specific ecosystem and set of circumstances which are rarely duplicated in the new environment.You have only to take a hard look at Marissa Mayer’s history to see the problem in action. Read other Golden Oldies here.
Are you already a devotee of insanely smart hiring, in the process of changing after reading insanely stupid hiring or somewhere in-between?
Wherever your MAP is on the subject there is one thing about hiring that you need to wrap your head around if you want your career to flourish.
You can not hire stars, but you can create and maintain them.
This is as true of executives and management as it is of workers at all levels.
Think of hiring in terms of planting a garden—only these plants have feet.
You’re at the nursery and find a magnificent rose. It’s large, because it’s several years old, has dozens of blooms and buds and is exactly what you wanted for a particular space in your yard.
The directions say that the rose needs full sun to thrive, while the space in your yard only gets four to five hours of morning sun. But the rose is so gorgeous you can’t resist, convincing yourself that those hours from sunrise to 11 will be enough, so you take it home and plant it.
It seems to do OK at first, but as time goes by it gets more straggly and has fewer and fewer blooms.
Finally, you give it to your friend who plants it in a place that gets sun from early morning to sunset.
By the end of the next summer the rose is enormous, covered in blooms and has sprouted three new canes.
One of the things that insanely smart hiring does is ensure that people are planted where they will flourish, whether they are already thriving or are leaving an inhospitable environment.
I said earlier that people are like plants with feet. Abuse a plant, whether intentionally or through neglect, and it will wither and eventually die; abuse your people and sooner or later they will walk.
Insanely smart hiring also gives you a giant edge whether the people market is hot or cold.
By knowing exactly what you need, your culture, management style and the environment you have to offer you are in a position to find hidden and unpolished jewels, as well as those that have lost their luster by being in the wrong place. (Pardon the mixed metaphors. Ed)
These are often candidates that other managers pass on, but who will become your stars—stars with no interest in seeking out something else.
They recognize insanely smart opportunities when they see them.
Flickr image credit: Ryan Somma
