Hiring properly is one of the keys to engaged employees -- making sure that the people you hire are the kind of people you want as part of your team.
I recently went to the hardware store looking for a part for a door. The first person pointed me in the right direction - no luck. I asked a second person who directed me to a third person who directed me to a fourth person.
Finally the fourth person took me directly to the appropriate section and then when they were also unable to find the correct part, looked on the computer to find it.
Everyone one in this chain had the "competence" of knowing where to look, but only 1 person had the "character" to make the time to take me there.
At Pret a Manger, they hire happy people and teach them how to make sandwiches versus trying to teach people who know how to make sandwiches how to be happy.
Be clear on the character you want and then make sure your hiring practices build in the behavioural requirements.
Cheers!
Bill's passion is improving business results by working with leadership teams to change employee behaviours. He does this by equipping leaders with the principles, processes and tools to cultivate an engaged customer-focused culture.
As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.
For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/
Showing posts with label Recruiting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recruiting. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Pret a Manger vs. The Ritz-Carlton
I came across an excellent post in The Insider that you should read if you haven’t already done so. It features an interview with Jay Chapman, Head of Communications at Pret a Manger (a sandwich shop chain).
The thing that struck me was the similarities between one of the key business practices between Pret a Manger and The Ritz-Carlton. They both place very high emphasis on recruitment.
Like The Ritz-Carlton, prior to formal interviews for any role, all candidates (for any position within Pret) must work on the shop floor for a day. The team who works there gets a say on whether the candidate will fit in with the team there or whether they would like the person to work for Pret. If the answer is no, the candidate isn’t hired.
In this way the shop teams make decisions on who the next Purchasing Manager, the next Customer Service Advisor and the next Property Director are. On top of that, all new recruits spend a week or two working in the shop at the start of their employment.
Pret invests a lot in their recruitment process to make sure that their business is filled with “Pret people” from top to bottom and they actively encourage employees to bring their own personalities to work.
Jay believes this investment pays off one hundredfold -- 60% of staff at Pret’s head office began life on the shop floor -- and they know the business inside out.
Incidentally, ‘head office’ is described by Pret people as, ‘Hudsons Place’. This is because the people at Hudsons Place truly don’t believe they are any more important than the people on the shop floor – they’re just fulfilling a different function. This attitude of respect, treating everyone the same seems to run throughout Pret.
That kind of attitude comes from the top and sets the tone for the entire organizational culture.
So regardless of what kind of business you are in there is a lesson to be learned about hiring. Determine the culture you want and then design your recruitment to find those people.
At Pret, there is one quality which is an absolute must if you want to join the team – happiness. “You can’t hire someone who can make sandwiches and teach them to be happy,” says Jay, “So we hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches”. This is hiring based on character versus competence, which you then train.
What are the key qualities you need to hire for -- and importantly, how have you designed your recruitment process to find those people.
Cheers!
Bill's passion is exceptional customer service -- internally and externally. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand values and deliver an intentional customer service experience that exceeds expectations.
As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.
For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/
The thing that struck me was the similarities between one of the key business practices between Pret a Manger and The Ritz-Carlton. They both place very high emphasis on recruitment.
Like The Ritz-Carlton, prior to formal interviews for any role, all candidates (for any position within Pret) must work on the shop floor for a day. The team who works there gets a say on whether the candidate will fit in with the team there or whether they would like the person to work for Pret. If the answer is no, the candidate isn’t hired.
In this way the shop teams make decisions on who the next Purchasing Manager, the next Customer Service Advisor and the next Property Director are. On top of that, all new recruits spend a week or two working in the shop at the start of their employment.
Pret invests a lot in their recruitment process to make sure that their business is filled with “Pret people” from top to bottom and they actively encourage employees to bring their own personalities to work.
Jay believes this investment pays off one hundredfold -- 60% of staff at Pret’s head office began life on the shop floor -- and they know the business inside out.
Incidentally, ‘head office’ is described by Pret people as, ‘Hudsons Place’. This is because the people at Hudsons Place truly don’t believe they are any more important than the people on the shop floor – they’re just fulfilling a different function. This attitude of respect, treating everyone the same seems to run throughout Pret.
That kind of attitude comes from the top and sets the tone for the entire organizational culture.
So regardless of what kind of business you are in there is a lesson to be learned about hiring. Determine the culture you want and then design your recruitment to find those people.
At Pret, there is one quality which is an absolute must if you want to join the team – happiness. “You can’t hire someone who can make sandwiches and teach them to be happy,” says Jay, “So we hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches”. This is hiring based on character versus competence, which you then train.
What are the key qualities you need to hire for -- and importantly, how have you designed your recruitment process to find those people.
Cheers!
Bill's passion is exceptional customer service -- internally and externally. He works with clients to activate a “customer-focused” culture where engaged employees internalize the brand values and deliver an intentional customer service experience that exceeds expectations.
As well, he is a dynamic, results-oriented speaker on the importance of a customer-focused culture, either as a guest speaker or acting as a facilitator of a group discussion/workshop.
For more information please contact (905) 841-3191
Email: bill@billhogg.ca, Web: http://www.billhogg.ca/
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Tim Hortons 2
Wow, what a run of bad luck Tim's is having these days.
First, firing an employee for giving a child a FREE TimBit, and now, not allowing a pregnant homeless women to eat her breakfast in the restaurant.
The important learning is that it doesn't matter that Tim Hortons has a basis for either of these actions. What matters is that customers across Canada are not happy with the corporate behavior.
But in neither case, was this corporate behaviour -- it was a specific individual acting in what they felt was a totally appropriate manner. Can these be any louder warnings for us about the critical importance of working with our employees on the customer service experience they are providing.
Tim Hortons has been a good corporate citizen. They are a big sponsor of local community activities in sports, culture and the arts -- yet all of that money is being totally over shadowed by "unpaid media" that suggests the company is uncaring. Plus, I would guess, considerable time and money are now being spent to minimize and undo the damage created by there 2 recent situations.
How much better to have spent this time and money making sure employees understand and internalize the corporate culture.
So when the value of spending funds to create a customer-focus culture in the organization is questioned -- remember these examples.
It doesn't matter how well the head office gets it or how much you spend on training "what to do", if your employees don't embrace your customer service experience and understand how to interpret the policies in the context of the brand values you have developed, you will continually be fighting fires likes these.
It's the difference between hiring and training for competence versus character.
Cheers!
First, firing an employee for giving a child a FREE TimBit, and now, not allowing a pregnant homeless women to eat her breakfast in the restaurant.
The important learning is that it doesn't matter that Tim Hortons has a basis for either of these actions. What matters is that customers across Canada are not happy with the corporate behavior.
But in neither case, was this corporate behaviour -- it was a specific individual acting in what they felt was a totally appropriate manner. Can these be any louder warnings for us about the critical importance of working with our employees on the customer service experience they are providing.
Tim Hortons has been a good corporate citizen. They are a big sponsor of local community activities in sports, culture and the arts -- yet all of that money is being totally over shadowed by "unpaid media" that suggests the company is uncaring. Plus, I would guess, considerable time and money are now being spent to minimize and undo the damage created by there 2 recent situations.
How much better to have spent this time and money making sure employees understand and internalize the corporate culture.
So when the value of spending funds to create a customer-focus culture in the organization is questioned -- remember these examples.
It doesn't matter how well the head office gets it or how much you spend on training "what to do", if your employees don't embrace your customer service experience and understand how to interpret the policies in the context of the brand values you have developed, you will continually be fighting fires likes these.
It's the difference between hiring and training for competence versus character.
Cheers!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Hiring The Right People
One of the critical success factors for developing a great consistent brand experience is hiring the right people. I believe that involves looking at 2 key areas when hiring; competence and character.
Competence is the skills, knowledge and experience to do the job. Either they have these skills already, or you believe that with the correct training, they have the potential to learn to do the job well. This is often what most interviews and most training is geared towards.
However, even more important than competence is character. You should be looking for people who can get on board with your vision. People who get excited about your company vision and values -- who love working with and looking after customers.
I recall a story about the great Ritz Carlton hotel chain. Whenever they interviewed someone for any aspect of their business, they shared a meal with the prospect and accidentally dropped a napkin while eating. They were looking to see if the person naturally reached to pick the napkin up.
The purpose of this little test was to see whether "helping" was a natural characteristic or one that was just on display for the interview.
Of course this was just one method of digging in to find their character. They had many other techniques. But the real lesson here is that they clearly understood the kind of character they were looking for in their organization, and had specific elements within their hiring process to unearth these characteristic.
My experience is that if you have to chose between competence and character -- choose character every time. If you have the right person, you can always train for competence. it is almost impossible to change a persons character.
The best examples of this is the legion of stories of people who started at the bottom of the organization and who rose through the ranks to become a senior executive. These are always people who had the right character, just not yet the right competence.
So ask yourself, does your hiring process have elements built in that delve into the character of the potential employee to ensure that their character aligns with the results you want. If not, shouldn't it?
Cheers!
Competence is the skills, knowledge and experience to do the job. Either they have these skills already, or you believe that with the correct training, they have the potential to learn to do the job well. This is often what most interviews and most training is geared towards.
However, even more important than competence is character. You should be looking for people who can get on board with your vision. People who get excited about your company vision and values -- who love working with and looking after customers.
I recall a story about the great Ritz Carlton hotel chain. Whenever they interviewed someone for any aspect of their business, they shared a meal with the prospect and accidentally dropped a napkin while eating. They were looking to see if the person naturally reached to pick the napkin up.
The purpose of this little test was to see whether "helping" was a natural characteristic or one that was just on display for the interview.
Of course this was just one method of digging in to find their character. They had many other techniques. But the real lesson here is that they clearly understood the kind of character they were looking for in their organization, and had specific elements within their hiring process to unearth these characteristic.
My experience is that if you have to chose between competence and character -- choose character every time. If you have the right person, you can always train for competence. it is almost impossible to change a persons character.
The best examples of this is the legion of stories of people who started at the bottom of the organization and who rose through the ranks to become a senior executive. These are always people who had the right character, just not yet the right competence.
So ask yourself, does your hiring process have elements built in that delve into the character of the potential employee to ensure that their character aligns with the results you want. If not, shouldn't it?
Cheers!
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