Businesses in the US look to accelerate productivity. However, US productivity growth continues to be underwhelming, US employees are engaging in “silent quitting,” the job market remains challenging, and companies are willing to invest more in their talent/HR functions at the same time that they are looking for ways to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. During such complex and uncertain times, one of the greatest areas of opportunity for boosting our business’ bottom line is focusing on ways to boost our team members’ productivity.
And while processes and technology are both important pillars we must pay attention to in our efforts to accelerate productivity, interventions in these areas are just enablers to change. It is the human element that turns our business strategy into results and drives business growth and transformation, by leveraging appropriate processes and technology. As such, it behooves us to make sure that not only every new hire we make possesses the right skills but, also, that the new hire’s addition will enhance the productivity of our entire team. And for us to make sure we get the right hire on board and accelerate their and the team’s time to productivity, we need to do more than just check the boxes of the requirements set out on a job description.
Accelerate Productivity by Filling Holes
Our work in filling a vacant role begins long before we go out to the market to recruit, by carefully considering the job, the team, and the skills we need now and into the future. Is the way we have defined the job enabling both the organization to achieve its goals and the employee to feel motivated and rewarded? If the role is not “big” enough to be meaningful for what we need to meet our business goals, does it even make sense to hire someone? Can we lean on our current talent who may possess adjacent or transferable skills as a means of developing them and at the same time fulfill our business needs? If the role is substantive enough, have we identified the right constellation of knowledge, experience, motivations, behaviors, and mindsets a person will need to be successful in the role within the specific context of our company? Have we considered the team the new hire will be a part of? How about the broader stakeholders they will be interfacing with? What skills are lacking, or will be complementary or contrasting within the context of the existing team?
Leverage Data
Once we have clarity around all these job- and talent-related questions, and a new hire is made, this is where a great opportunity lies for accelerating the time to productivity for both our new hire and our team and enhancing their ongoing productivity. From onboarding to manager training to team management, we can leverage data to set everyone up for success as well as speed the learning curve for all stakeholders by:
- Introducing the new hire to their new colleagues or teammates before they even meet them by sharing relevant information about them and their styles at work.
- Arming the hiring manager with data on the new hire, especially around behavioral preferences, and drives.
- Providing the team an opportunity to introduce/re-introduce each other, celebrate their unique strengths and help them recognize how they can leverage each other to deliver exponentially greater results.
Data-based Decision-Making
In our practice, we have found solutions such as the Predictive Index® (PI®) suite to be very impactful in helping our clients make data-based decisions around hiring, managing, inspiring and engaging talent. Having a comprehensive framework and tools to guide our thinking around design, hire, inspire, and team discovery reminds us of all the levers we can pull to not only hire the right person at the right time but also share talent data that is simple and easy to understand in a way that enables all stakeholders to find their stride and become productive faster.
Given the current operating environment, as people managers we will need to continue to strike a fine balance between leading with empathy and care, meeting our team members where they are, and finding ways to drive increasing levels of productivity. Critical to our business’ growth is our ability to become more intentional, careful, and strategic in how we hire and what we do with our talent once we hire it. Leaning heavily on talent data to accelerate the journey of engaging and motivating our staff gives our business a competitive advantage by impacting our team’s productivity.
If you want to have a conversation on how to use talent data and analytics to boost your teams’ productivity, reach out to connect with one of our expert staff.
