If you were the owner of a NBA basketball team, one of your top goals would be to have the best players on your team. With only five players on the court at any one time, every one of them is critical to winning. If you don’t do a good job hiring the right players, your team won’t win many games. And eventually the fans will stop coming out and spending their money on tickets. In other words, the success of your winning team is to have the right players on the floor at all times.

Business owners tell me they can’t find any good help. But how much time do they actually spend finding the right players? What you get is a direct result of your priorities. When you don’t take enough time to find, cultivate, and train new players, how do you expect to grow a winning team? Professional sports teams have a full time executive in charge of player personnel – finding the right players, managing their contracts, and keeping them happy. But most small companies don’t spend more than a few hours a year making sure their roster is balanced, robust, and excellent.

Before the annual draft, every professional sports coaching staff makes a list of all the positions and their current players to analyze what they need to change or add to improve. In your company, the draft is now. To get started, make a list of all of your company positions, the talents required at each job, the player currently assigned each position, and then rank how well you think they are doing.

Player Personnel Ranking Chart

Position Talent Required Player Ranking

Estimator Knows accurate costs Jim B C+
Completes bids on-time Jim B A-
Maximizes sub-bid coverage Jim B B-
Presents company well Jim B B

Project Manager Manages budget Bill C+
Maximizes change orders Bill B
Keeps customer happy Bill A
Paperwork on-time Bill B-

Superintendent Finishes jobs on-time Dave A
Pushes crews to the max Dave B+
Safe jobsite and no accidents Dave C-
Coordinates subcontractors Dave B-

Foreman Manages crews and jobsite Sam B-
Brings jobs in under budget Sam C
Knows how to build quality Sam A
Follows company procedures Sam C-

Carpenter Can build per plans Joe A-
Hustles & works efficiently Joe B
Takes initiative & action Joe B-
Team Player & good attitude Joe D

Office Manager Completes tasks on-time Sue B-
Understands accounting Sue C+
Understands construction Sue B+
Team player & good attitude Sue A

By taking a hard look at your player roster and what talent you really need, you can be objective about what you need to do to improve your win & loss record. Using the chart above, you’ll find you have some players who appear to excel at certain parts of their job, while lacking talent in other areas. Superintendent Dave finishes his jobs on-time but doesn’t follow the company safety rules nor plans ahead with subcontractors. This chart makes your choices obvious: 1) keep Dave and allow him to run an unsafe job, 2) give him an ultimatum, or 3) replace him with a better superintendent.

Carpenter Joe has been with the company a long time. He works hard, knows what to do, and works efficiently. But his attitude stinks and his negative demeanor permeates throughout the crew and makes everyone miserable. What should you do with him? You may have some players who have been with your company for a long time and are not completely fulfilling the total requirements of the job. This forces you to cover for them where they are weak. Is it time to replace them too?

Your business is no different than a professional basketball team. You need every position filled with the best player you can find and afford. You need shooters, forwards, playmakers, rebounders, fast-breakers, passers, and defensive guards. In your company you need the best salespeople, managers, leaders, organizers, coordinators, coaches, and accounting people who keep track of things. When you don’t have the best available, it costs you money and makes it impossible to win your game of business against your competition and customers.

Dump the duds!
Some Fortune 500 companies make it a mandatory requirement that every manager replace at least 10% to 20% of their staff every year. The belief is that at least 10% of people working at their companies should not be working there. Some of these employees have bad attitudes, the wrong talent, or they are in the wrong positions. It is a good thing to encourage poor performers to move on to another company where they can fit in and become the best they can be. After you rank your employees, decide which 10% to 20% shouldn’t work for your company and would be best suited to work for some other employer.

Draft the best!
To find the best people starts by determining what talent you need the most based on your current situation. Think like a professional sports coach. The draft is approaching and soon you will get to pick which type of players you want to go after. Look at your strengths and weaknesses. Where do you need to replace some of your older slower players who can’t keep up with the changing times. Where do you need some new blood or fresh talent? Do you need a leader who will help your business grow? Do you need someone in accounting who will professionalize your business operations and allow you to focus on obtaining more work. Perhaps you need a manager of field operations who will take charge and get your company organized and in-control. Or maybe you an estimator who can price work accurately and present your company to potential clients in a winning manner.

Does your company attract great people?
To fill the positions with the best available perfect people you need is not an easy task. You first must have a company that is attractive to prospective employees. And then you must have a recruiting program that keeps your pipeline full of available top talent.

Contractors who need field employees have a tough job attracting great people. Working outdoors is cold, hot, wet, dirty and dangerous. Employees start work at 6:00 am and then work all day on their feet doing heavy lifting. As they get older, employees become less valuable and must be replaced by a younger and cheaper people. The position has no job security or guaranty of ongoing work. If there is no work, the employee goes home without pay. Check out this construction want-ad I saw in the newspaper.

WANTED
Construction field worker.
Work is hot, dirty & unsafe.
Be ready to work real hard.
Bring your own tools & truck.
No training program included.
No room for advancement.
Pay is not guaranteed.
Apply at jobsite.

Would you work for you?
For high school seniors, construction ranked number 248 out of 250 career choices. Workers today want more than hard work and good pay. They want a comfortable job that fits their lifestyle, is high tech, and fulfilling. There are enough good workers available, they just don’t want to work for your company doing what you want them to do. This requires a new attitude about attracting the best employees to work for your company. Employees must be your #2 priority, right behind finding new work / acquiring customers.

Take a look at how you treat your employees. Is your pay fair? Do you have a written training program in place where employees can see their progress and move up the training ladder? Can your people get ahead if they meet their goals (if they have any)? Can your employees build a career with your company and eventually retire comfortably? Is there a future to build with your company?

Only 1 in 3 will be!
Why do employees look so good at the interview? You try your best to hire the right people, but some just don’t work out. I have a rule of thumb: one in three will be the right ones! It must be random luck to get a good one. Yes, you can improve your odds with good questions, screening and testing. But over my thirty plus years of hiring employees, one out of three seems to be the number. So first remember, your job will be to continually improve and replace your staff on an ongoing basis. You need to cut out the deadwood in your company grove if you want it to prosper. Just like in your garden, only when your remove and trim the deadwood, new growth can happen. A Fortune magazine study shows that a bad hire can actually cost your company two to three times the employee’s annual salary.

Some employees are built to make your life miserable and make your money disappear. And I know it is not your favorite thing to constantly find good or replace bad employees. You really just want to hire them, leave them alone or tell them what to do, and then hope they do a good job. But, employees are a real pain in the _ _ _! (LEG) They take time, nurturing, coaching, training, and pruning. These are not your favorite things to spend your time on. After all, you’ve got important work to tend to like counting screws to order!

Back to professional sports. Why do team owners spend millions of dollars on finding and retaining the best coach? So their players will perform their best and the team will win. You can’t win a game without your players and coaching being a top priority. Most business owners and managers want people issues to go away. Hiring is a pain, so it’s done hastily without proper care. Remember what Peter Drucker said about people:

“The ability to make good people decisions represents the last reliable source of competitive advantage, since very few companies are good at it.”

You can’t hire people who don’t apply.
Hiring the right people starts with a good recruiting program. The old method of hiring employees was to take out a classified ad in your local newspaper, wait for the phone to ring, review the resumes, interview the applicants, and then hire the one your thought you could work with the best who costs the less. Hiring the right people today is totally different. People looking for work have many options and choices even during tough economic times. They will not work for companies who don’t respect employees or give them an opportunity to grow. To attract good people now takes an outreach and marketing campaign. Ads must be attention grabbers that attract potential employees to “please work for us’ because we are a great company to work for. You must work personal referrals, use assessment tests, offer flexible pay programs, have an excellent total compensation and benefit package, and allow employees a quality of life.

The tendency is for top players to be attracted to other top players who want to excel. The best hiring decision makers are your top performers. Let them decide who gets hired. Second and third tier players settle for lesser players who won’t compete hard for their jobs. Never let poor performers pick any players for your team.

Hire winners!
When reviewing resumes and during interviews, the natural tendency is to look for experience and “trained help.” These are easy hires and not necessarily the right ones. To pick the right people, look for TALENT, ATTITUDE, APPTITUDE and DETERMINATION! Remember, if you’ve got the right person, you can train the skills. (This assumes you have an ongoing training program!)

Hire people who:

Are consistent
Have potential
Have what it takes to perform
Have their act together
Have their life in order
Are responsible
Are willing to perform
Are self motivated
Have a good attitude
Are team players
Are competitive
Know how to win
I like people who played sports in high school. They know discipline, teamwork, and how to get along with all types of people. Plus they are competitive. Look for what you want, not what people tell you. Finding great help is like a blind date. You know what you want, but, you’re not sure you’ll get it. Ask the right questions and you will get the right answers. Use open ended questions like: “Tell me about your accomplishments in high school sports.” Don’t ask obvious questions like: Can you finish projects on-time?”

How To Attract The Right People!
1. Decide recruiting is a part of everyone’s job, including yours!
2. Make recruiting a company wide program
3. Pay for referrals to employees for new hires they referred
4. Offer a signing bonus to new employees
5. Have company recruiting flyers or brochure
6. Give everyone recruiting business cards
7. Make it easy for potential recruits:
– Have a recruiting phone line
– Interview on the phone first
– Have a weekly time to call in
– Use a simple employee application
– Always take a picture of applicant
8. Offer applicant referral fee to suppliers and subcontractors
9. Hold seminars on how to get a good job
10. Get involved at high schools
11. Offer summer jobs to potential employees
12. Offer part time jobs to students
13. Offer craft training after school and Saturdays
14. Hold career days
15. Offer college scholarship programs

Great Want Ads
Placing a great ad that will attract the best people is easy if you think about what you are trying to accomplish. You want to attract the best people to apply to your company. So you’ve got to give the best people a reason to apply. Ask yourself, what would attract you to apply to your company?

Typical bad want-ad
Construction worker needed.
UG water & sewer lines.
Mininimum 5 years experience.
Own tools & truck.
Mail resume PO box 123.

What wrong with this ad ? The ad isn’t exciting and doesn’t attract people who have potential. It looks like a tough job for a company who just needs work done – no opportunity for growth. It also doesn’t allow for a quick response. This ad is short to save money and won’t recruit the right people or get the job done.

Ads should be placed in online job websites to attract people who are computer literate and can function in today’s work environment. Everyone you want to hire must operate a computer and should know how to surf the net. So stop wasting money on ads printed in the newspaper. Only take out ads online in the online newspaper or employment sites like ‘monster.com’, ‘hotjobs.com’, ‘constructionjobs.com’, or ‘craigslist.com’ to get the best results. If you are looking for Hispanic workers for example, use employment websites that specialize in Spanish speaking readers.

Build a better want-ad!
To write a good ad, follow these four steps:
1. Create an attention grabber .
Use themes like ‘ run your own job’, ‘ready to move up?’, or ‘full charge.’

2. Be straight and honest.
Tell them exactly what you want like ‘dirty, hours, hard work, etc.’

3. Include the human factor.
Use words like: ‘fun, energetic company, flexible, or great staff.’

4. Have a call for action.
Use incentives like: ‘call today from 9 – 4 & leave a brief message to explain your interest in the job’ or ‘apply @ _____ m-f from 2 – 7’ or email or fax resume to ___’

Good ad
Full charge construction superintendent.
Growing innovative commercial contractor.
Seeking 1 great field leader to run major projects.
We build quality, on-time projects for repeat customers.
Need computer and job management skills.
Great benefits, profit sharing & career opportunity.
Call job hotline to setup interview @ 800-222-3333.
Fax your resume today to 1-800-111-2222.
e-mail to greatjob@hcm.com.

It time to put in some new players!

Now the challenge is to make finding great employees a priority for you and your company. Coaches won’t keep their jobs very long without the right players in the game. Take a look at what you’ve got versus what you want. Make those tough decisions, bench a few players, start a few new players, and hire a few new players on an ongoing basis to build the best team you possibly can. You can win.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Hedley is the best-selling author of “Get Your Business to Work!” As an entrepreneur, popular speaker and business coach, he helps business owners build profitable companies. E-mail: gh@hardhatpresentations.com to request your free copy of “$ure $trategies To $urvive A $lowdown!” or sign up for his free monthly e-newsletter. To hire George, attend his “Profit-Builder Circle” academy or be a part of an “Executive Roundtable Group” call 800-851-8553 or visit www.hardhatpresentations.com.

George Hedley HARDHAT Presentations
(800) 851-8553
Email: gh@hardhatpresentations.com website: www.hardhatpresentations.com

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