Posts by: infoadmin

Imagine a boss who has 24 years of experience as a production manager. Who understands all the processes in the company. Who also has no problem going to work with his staff on Saturdays. A boss who thinks it is very important that all employees should have opportunities to grow as individuals and who, at the same time, is admirably soft-spoken. No, this is not a description of a character from a children’s fairy tale. I am talking about Petr Ringer, a real-life production manager from the Karel Kaňák, s.r.o. company. We interviewed Petr and here are his views on motivation.

For the benefit of those who don’t know the “Karel Kaňák” company, could you please briefly describe it.

We manufacture cutting tools that assist our clients in producing various types of containers – such as boxes for medicines, cosmetics or food, or for transportation of goods.

How many employees does your company have in total?

You don’t know what exactly is a cutting tool? You can imagine it like this.

Around 85.

And how many are there in your team?

At the moment, I have 40 people in my team.

You started at the company in 1996 and began by working in the production department as a machine technician. How did you work your way up to become the production manager?

The former director made me a foreman of a work shift team. After approximately a year, Mr. Kaňák asked me if I would be willing to lead the whole production department. My answer was: “Well, I can try it out, boss. If I fail, I will go back to the trenches”.

How did you fare as the new team leader in the production department? What were the biggest challenges?

My viewpoint was that the work simply had to get done – regardless of any considerations. I soon found out that not everyone had the same viewpoint. At the time, I really had little information on how to manage people. There were times when I got annoyed and had altercations with the staff. I just could not understand that certain people were not willing to do what was needed.
Since I came from the group of people I was leading, I could easily spot when staff tried to ignore work that needed to be done. However, when I pointed this out there was a strong reaction – almost mutiny.

We worried about the staff that we thought were
indispensable but when we looked back, we
realised that we were right not to compromise.

I suspect that the mutiny highlighted those that were not on board. Did you have to fire some staff?

Yes, I did. For example, we had to fire one of the employees because he would not change his attitude to his work. Even though originally, he was a fantastically hard-working person, he started refusing to do anything extra and was arrogant toward others. The moment he left, the mood of the department changed for the better. Immediately after he left, two young men in the production department had the opportunity to show what they could do, which they had not had before. After a couple of weeks, you didn’t notice that he was gone.
We had a few other cases like that. We worried about the staff that we thought were indispensable but when we looked back, we realised that we were right not to compromise. Those who thought they were irreplaceable are long gone and I can say that currently, we have a very healthy team.

How do you motivate your staff? What motivates them to remain in the company or in your team?

You don’t know what exactly is a cutting tool? You can imagine it like this.

That is a very difficult question. I try to work with each person individually. If I see that the person is capable of more and wants to grow, I provide the opportunities to do so. We have a few such people currently. For example, we have a colleague who started with glueing, and in a few weeks was learning how to operate CNC machines. On the other hand, some people have reached their peak and do a fantastic job and don’t want to grow more. In this case, it is about having a mutually friendly and respectful relationship. So, in motivating staff it’s very important to discover the inner person and to work accordingly.

Do you always provide opportunities for your staff to develop further? Does your company have the capacity to do that?

We try to develop staff as much as we can. Veterans, like me, have worked with all the different machines, so we know them well. But those who are new work only with one specific machine and have limited knowledge. One way to help them develop is to let them learn how to operate other machines – that way they will eventually be able to back each other up during holiday periods or sick leave.
The workflow is not always constant in the production department. Sometimes you have less work, and sometimes you have more work. Sometimes in order to meet the deadline we have to work overtime or weekends. How does the production manager deal with such situations?
It is always important to ask people. I seldom have to issue an order. The staff in our company are very willing to work. Often, they will see that something needs to be completed and they will initiate even working on a Sunday.

Now and then, when I hear my staff saying that they have to work on Saturday, I tell them:
“You know what guys? I will come with you.”
And they say: “You are kidding! You, the manager, will come to work with us?”
And I go work with them, and I can completely
clear my head while doing so.

What motivates you? Do you have some secret source of motivation?

Corporate sports day or events with families are already a tradition at Kaňák.

I simply enjoy the work. When you enjoy doing something and you have a lot of good people around you, this in itself is motivating. I really enjoy working with people. Now and then, when I hear my staff saying that they have to work on Saturday, I tell them: “You know what guys? I will come with you.” And they say: “You are kidding! You, the manager, will come to work with us?”
And I go work with them, and I can completely clear my head while doing so. I don’t have to handle people, manage, or give orders – I can simply bang with the hammer for eight hours.

Do you use Performia questionnaires in recruiting staff?

Yes, usually when hiring new people. My colleague, in the HR department, sends me all the applications and results and, based on this, we do the selection. Additionally, we always have the candidate try out the job for a week or two, in person. And, most importantly, the team then decides whether they want the person there.
With all this in place, there is no problem in motivating the team to work over the weekend.
If you could give one piece of advice for managers of Czech companies, on how to gain a well-motivated and working team, what would that be?
Appreciate your employees and thank them for their work. ■

PETR RINGER
■ Petr Ringer had studied to become a mechanic but when he started his first job, he felt he was back in Grade 1 again. He started working in Karel Kaňák, s.r.o. in 1996 as a machine technician in the production department. However, since the company was very small then, he wound up doing much more than that. He worked his way up from being a foreman of a work shift team to being the production manager. As a result, he knows all the production processes in his department. He cannot imagine doing anything else than working for Karel Kaňák, s.r.o.
He has a very successful marriage and family, and he considers this his biggest personal success. He relaxes from his day job when he goes to work on Saturdays – to help his staff in production. In his free time, he enjoys sports such as tennis and cycling.

Salary, bonuses, salary, bonuses. Or a little different: salary, bonus, benefits, salary, bonus, benefits… Does this not seem monotonous? Maybe this is the reason why many managers consider this type of motivation to be the less fun and creative part of their jobs. Are all people only motivated by money and bonuses? How about those who are enthusiastic and passionate about their jobs?

INFLOW

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INFLOW-ORIENTED EMPLOYEE
An ‘inflow-oriented employee’ has most of his attention focused on what he can get or gain, and thus he is constantly estimating what the returns will be and whether he should waste his time and energy on a given job. There aren’t many things that make him enthusiastic about his work – except personal benefits or financial returns. He is in fact a ‘mercenary’ and not a team player.
Such an employee will recalculate his salary, demand refunds for every expense, and he will spend much of his work time demanding salary increases. This individual is likely to leave the company because he has to work extra hours or because the company decides to change its remuneration policy by linking salaries to actual production.

His attitude: First, you have to pay me and then I will figure out how much I will be willing to work.

OUTFLOW

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN OUTFLOW-ORIENTED EMPLOYEE
The attention of this person is focused primarily on his work and anything connected to it. It is not that he does not want to earn money, or benefits. No. But there are also other factors that motivate him. For example, he likes his job, and he finds it fulfilling. He supports the company’s purpose and vision. The organizational goals and targets make sense to him and he wants to be part of achieving them.
Since such a person really likes to work and it is natural for him to move things forward, this is where most of his attention is focused. You do not have to encourage him to work and contribute as he understands the basic principle of exchange – that he first needs to produce something and then he can expect something in return.

His attitude: When I produce enough valuable outflow, I will in return receive an inflow.

Use all tones
When you try to motivate employees who are inflow-oriented, playing the motivational keys on the imaginary keyboard will be very monotonous. You will often be forced to defend the way in which your company rewards staff, how the bonuses are calculated and how company cars are equipped. That would not be a lot of fun. And you will probably find out that the “repertoire” at this tone level is quite limited. In this case, playing a melodious tune is quite difficult. Both you and the employees will realise that the song is discordant.
On the other hand, when you motivate a person who is outflow-oriented, you will observe that it is a more natural and pleasant process. Just talking about his job, his successes and areas for improvement will have a positive effect on his motivation. The right fuel for such a person is creating, figuring things out and moving things forward as part of the team. Of course, provided that you pay him well for his production and customise his personal benefits, that is. For both parties this is then a “fantastic symphony”.

DUTY
Such an employee works because “it simply needs to be done”. He considers his job as something natural but also vital; he has no problem with assisting others where it is needed and does not focus on what he will be paid for doing so.

PERSONAL CONVICTION
In this case, the employee wants his job to have value, and although he wants to earn money, he is more concerned with creating positive effects through his job, and he is convinced that the job and its results are important.

PERSONAL GAIN
This employee works mainly for what he will get, but broader than just money. Examples: The workplace is close to his home and that is why he wants to work there. The workplace provides a car and meal vouchers.

MONEY
This employee works only for money and doesn’t care much about what he is doing. Such a person doesn’t care what your company does as long as you pay him enough. Loyalty is very low at this level.

▲ White keys represent ways in which to motivate employees on a Motivational Scale

Having a purpose in life is dependent on your personal motivation. Motivating yourself can often be harder than motivating others. A number of clients shared their insights and experiences with us on the topic of motivation.

1. How would you define ‘motivation’?
2. How do you motivate your team? And what do you think demotivates your staff the most?
3. Have you ever felt demotivated? If so, describe what occurred.
4. Do you have a special recipe for motivating yourself?

Mark Hutchison,
Owner of Lifewood,  Australia

1. Motivation is about your internal dialogue. The more in balance I am in my life, the more I’m able to overcome situations – we’ve got adversity coming at us all the time, and I think when we’re out of balance, controlling the negative dialogue in our head is difficult.
   When I’m demotivated, it’s because I’m blaming someone else for my circumstances. So, if I can actually take 100% responsibility for my circumstances, I’m actually quite motivated.
   My definition of motivation is the ability to constantly move forward. If you’re motivated, you seem to be moving forward towards something. At the times when I’ve been demotivated, it’s when I’ve lost sight of my goals. It’s when I’ve lost sight of the endgame, I’ve forgotten why I’m doing what I’m doing. And knowing why you do what you do, is the backbone of motivation. Motivation is quite often skin-deep for a lot of people. This is why I don’t go to motivational speakers. I am internally driven from a sense of purpose.
   Motivation is knowing what you’re here to do, why you are doing it, who you are, and your actual worth – there has to be a sense of self-respect.
2. I need to be the “positive energy guy” in the room. So, if my motivation is down, my team is down. One of the things that’s been a big game-changer in motivating my team is creating targeted games. Having individual targets in place. What motivates the team is knowing their product really well, knowing their targets within the game and knowing what their reward will be.
   And what demotivates people the most? Shifting goalposts, shifting rules, not knowing the rules. Not knowing the game, not knowing how to win, being talked about behind their backs, feeling unsafe and not feeling like they’re trusted. All the negative things about culture, gossip, office politics, playing favourites. All that stuff is negative.
3. Yeah, absolutely. I spent five years on the edge of bankruptcy. In October 2018, I was half a million dollars in debt. And I had no results, no sales orders, and a company culture that was nothing short of toxic. I had had a fully operational business that was worth $5 million, but by 2019, it was in the negative to half a million dollars. I was broke, I had no personal assets.
   Why? As a result of bad hires. We had got ourselves in a situation where we had a toxic culture, poor manufacturing quality and warranty issues.
   I had a toxic general manager, I had warranty problems coming up, I also had a timber mill losing a million dollars a year that could not be resurrected, because the technical challenge was just too much.
   And on top of that, I was a single parent with two small children, a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, of which the five-year-old had every conceivable allergy you could possibly imagine.
   I think Performia Australia came in around that time and did some internal evaluations of my team.
   We now had a very exciting opportunity in front of us. We changed the team around and solved the product supply issues. Our product was now on spec, on price and arriving at the right time and in the right quantity.
   We exited our manufacturing from China and set up world-class, quality products by training manufacturers in Vietnam to make a highly technical product.
   We’ve now got a culture that re-energizes the entire company. We started this year with a robust stock holding, robust team, robust cash flow, robust cash reserves, robust systems and a very exciting, strategic future. And we’ve got an international patent that has been revised and accepted.
4. I think the challenge of motivation lies in the mind. But there are external things you can do to assist in motivating yourself. For example, if you take care of your body by getting enough sleep and eating a well-balanced and nutritious diet, then you are less likely to become depressed and demotivated.

Michaela Pojezdna
Director of Deckard & Penfield s.r.o., Czech Republic

1. To know and to believe that what I do has a purpose.
2. Let’s start with the second question. You can easily demotivate an employee. It’s enough if you stop respecting the person, take the person for granted, or you just don’t talk to the person enough. Not knowing what is happening in the company and the inability to influence things can be very demotivating. But I have to say that I have a fantastic team that is very experienced and is a pleasure to work with. I am in contact with my team daily. We update each other on our work every day, and I create opportunities for joint decision-making. It is very important for every member of the team to know what is expected of them, and for them to understand their respective roles in the company and what value they add. Personal acknowledgement, even though it sounds clichéd, is still the biggest motivator for healthy team spirit.
3. Yes, definitely, and not only once. I really like things to be done exactly as I imagine they should be done. However, the reality is sometimes different. We are working with a range of staff, which brings many variables into the workplace, and that can sometimes be demotivating to me personally…
4. I wouldn’t say I have a recipe. I do things that I enjoy doing and not the things I dislike doing. And maybe I am lucky in that there are few things that I don’t enjoy doing, so there is no need to search for motivation. I am still enjoying doing recruitment.

Tibor Berszany
GM of BERTIS GROUP,
Romania, 1,200 employees

1. The individual’s willingness to work, to perform, and to reach his/her objectives.
   In my view, if a person is solely focused on surviving from one day to the next, such a person will be difficult to motivate to give an outstanding performance.
2. Of course, financial motivation is important, especially in positions where pay is linked to performance. However, in my experience, professional and personal acknowledgements are more important, as well as the opportunity to develop, and to advance in one’s career. And what demotivates employees the most? If the employees do not feel accepted in the team or feel underappreciated by their boss, or the atmosphere in the workplace is unpleasant. Then it isn’t possible to perform even with financial motivation.
3. As I mentioned before, motivation is completely personal and internal. Therefore the reason for losing your motivation is a personal matter, such as a family conflict, or a feeling of hopelessness. I have become demotivated on occasion when there was a family conflict – my motivation fluctuated for a few days, I felt there was no point in pushing myself …. but since I generally am a positive person, I soon overcame those ups and downs.
4. You should always do what you are passionate about. Let your work be your hobby too!!
   Set goals for yourself and enjoy the journey.

Have you ever wondered why people need a reason to do something? How do I, as a manager, keep my team together, motivated and productive in this era of flexible working hours and home offices? The founder and owner of Performia, Mårten Runow, has the answer.

“There is nothing that brings me more fulfilment, pleasure and pride than when I find effective ways to assist others”, says Mårten Runow about his own motivation in building successful teams. He adds, “And what I like most is helping someone else become more able to help others. In that way, the person I helped becomes more valuable to his environment.”

Making money to ensure your happiness might be tempting but it does not lead to happiness. Mårten Runow emphasizes that those who help others seldom have a problem making and having money. Have you ever experienced helping someone selflessly, and some time later you get a flow back? Whether in the form of money or gratitude or new friends.

WHY DO PEOPLE NEED GOALS?

“The bookstores are bursting with motivational books and the internet is full of quotes on motivation or workshops on how to discover your purpose,” says Mårten Runow. “The truth is that without having to fight for something there is no real happiness. Those who have no goals at all are usually miserable, and those who have set themselves high goals and targets are usually fulfilled and happy.”

Why do people need goals and barriers in order to be happy? According to Mårten Runow, it’s simply because, without any barriers, life becomes tedious and boring. “When you have a goal or purpose that really inspires you, it is like your life is connected to a fully charged “battery” and you do not have the need to force yourself to work, as it happens automatically”.

When you have a goal or purpose that really
inspires you, it is like your life is connected to
a fully charged “batter y”.

The most recent change in the workplace is decentralized home offices. Many companies have allowed staff to work from home fully or partially; this has resulted in shared spaces on a relay basis in the office. If you are one of those people who has experienced working from home, you may ask yourself how and in what way this innovation will affect the motivation of staff and, in particular, teamwork? Has this strengthened or weakened the team?

MOTIVATION IN THE “HOME OFFICE” ERA

If you understand the dynamics of a successful team, it should be clear to you that most employees need to be motivated regularly in order to get the required results. How can managers motivate their teams when working from home has become the norm? Only time will tell how they will motivate people.

According to Mårten Runow,

“How productive a person is when working from home depends on the degree to which the individual is able to motivate and manage himself. Some people are easily able to do so while others find it extremely difficult. Thus, you as the manager must understand what it takes to maintain the high productivity of each member of the team when there is no one supervising them. That is why Performia provides advice to clients about staff motivation and how to avoid making costly mistakes.”

According to Mårten Runow, home offices could work, but you need to ensure the following points are taken into consideration:

To build a productive and tight team you need to maintain a high level of communication between the members, and ensure that you provide regular feedback and good coordination despite the physical distance that comes with using home offices.

To maintain productivity levels, the team must be able to get together regularly to exchange ideas and make sure everyone is on board in solving potential problems and in achieving the company targets. Ideally, there should be a mix of live and online meetings.

The most important factor, however, is that your team members are actively in contact with each other and focused on the purpose of the company, so they are well aware of why they do their job.

You as the manager must understand what it takes to maintain
the high productivity of each member of the team when there is
no one supervising them.

THE ERA OF FLEXIBILITY IS HERE

We have already touched on the era of home offices as well as new trends in long-distance work. This new generation of staff want to be in charge of their time, have flexible working hours and, in some cases, want to be “digital nomads”. According to Mårten Runow, companies must be prepared for this trend. However, they should not be too concerned, as long as they keep one condition in mind.

You should not be surprised to know that it is a factor that we at Performia always stress: “In accommodating flexible and decentralised working conditions you will need to make sure that high productivity levels are maintained. That is the fundamental thing. Where we work and when we work must not be allowed to crash productivity.”

MOTIVATING STAFF – MOVING FORWARD

You might imagine that motivating staff in a modern workplace is somewhat different and that your internal PR and communications will have to be suitably adjusted. However, the basic principles remain the same. Mårten Runow advises that managers will need to look for new tools to help them maintain production levels. These tools must assist in getting things done, help to inform people and ensure that everyone knows what is going on in the company. “If the tools don’t make the above happen, then the staff motivation will suffer enormously.”

If the staff has goals and targets, and managers have effective tools, companies will be able to build productive teams, whether the staff is working from home or in different time zones.

However, one question remains. What does one do with a person who is productive, has great potential but isn’t motivated to do anything with it? To what extent can management solve this and to what extent does the solution lie with the individual?

“The real question is if the ones who are really producing want to support those who have no willingness, no energy and no skills. History tells us that it does not work very well, and that is why we advise our clients to demand that their new staff should have demonstrated the willingness to work and get results BEFORE they get hired in your company.”

Always be motivated in what you do, as we believe that makes motivating others so much easier. ■

This issue is all about Production. What do you think – Is the production key to your expansion of your business? Do you need to measure production of employees? What could happen if you don`t do it? You will find answers in this issue. We hope the information will be useful for your business.

At Performia, we have consistently seen the importance of evaluating productivity thoroughly whenever or wherever you hire. This is actually the single most important factor, and if you manage to get it right you will solve a very big part of the “hiring equation”. If you look at all the people you have hired successfully – isn’t it true with those individuals who had already been productive in the past, it did not take very long before you could actually see and experience that your company really got help?

I am not saying that this is the only criterion in hiring but it is a very, very basic one. If productivity is “missing” you are normally in for some very real problems. Fixing no or low productivity in existing people is not a simple task, but it can certainly be done if you are very persistent and skilled enough. However, what is a bit amazing is that it is normally a lot simpler to increase the production of those who are already getting a lot of things done.

In this issue of TEAMS, we will look more closely into the huge importance of PRODUCTIVITY in hiring.

In recruiting new people there is one factor that you have to firmly establish before you can safely decide to bring a new person on board.

Production record?

The first and by far the most important factor in hiring is to establish and understand a candidate’s PRODUCTION RECORD.

A “product” can be defined as the valuable final result of a directed effort to get an item or activity fully completed. And the fact that it is really completed, it is valuable, it works and it also needs no further attentions are all attributes of a product.  You buy a drilling machine, and when you get home to use it you realize that the drill is not stable but vibrates a lot and makes drilling nearly impossible. That machine was simply not a good product. It needs more attention before it could possibly become one. To deliver things that are fully working and completed is the key responsibility of leaders. The same is true for all the staff you have. Each and every member of your organization is supposed to deliver value through providing “products”.

Definition of a product

A product, in order to be called a “product”, doesn’t have to be a physical object; it could as well be a completed service. In today’s society, we have, in fact, a tendency to develop and deliver more and more products that are personally- or machine-assisted services. These could be cleaned windows, repaired teeth, a consultation resulting in a suitable and viable business plan, access to the internet, etc. These are all products in the sense in which we are using the word here. And they should also be needed and wanted. The delivery of a company’s products is the only reason for its existence.

Understanding your company’s products is vital

This might sound too simple and unnecessary to bring up but, if this concept of product is not fully grasped and applied to both management and staff, you will not become as successful as you potentially could be in hiring. Not only understanding what different products your organization has but also what products each of its staff members are supposed to deliver is vital, if you want to get the full benefits of this hiring system.

To deliver lots of products with high quality and enough volume requires staff that are willing, skilled and interested enough to make it happen. And that is why you ideally should have a verified production record from every person you ever intend to hire, or at least investigate the area carefully for new candidates.

Stay with the company for a long enough time

The second prerequisite that needs to be considered is that you are dealing with a person who is able and willing to STAY WITH THE COMPANY for a reasonable length of time. Unfortunately, there are many people who change positions and companies as soon as more money is offered somewhere else, or who leave when some unexpected problem occurs, or who just simply lack persistence.

To establish what the chances are that a candidate is willing and able to stay for a longer period, you will have to look at a couple of factors. One is the candidate’s background regarding length of employment with previous employers, and the other is personality. Certain personalities are very definite about wanting to learn a job thoroughly and then experience the satisfaction of having complete certainty in how to do the job, and thus they have little to no urge to change just to get into something new. Others are mainly interested in further levels of the same or a very similar job, while some people get bored when they feel they “know it all” and thus prefer to change and get involved with a completely new or different challenge. This is an area where Performia’s personality testing really can provide vital information on what you can do to deal with staff individually, in order to increase the possibilities of keeping them longer.

Functioning within a group

The third area that you need to consider before making your final hiring decision is to evaluate the person’s ability to FUNCTION WITHIN A GROUP, and thus the ability to create decent and lasting relationships with other people. Sometimes (very rarely, however) you will find a person who is actually productive while working on his or her own, but has a problem cooperating with others to such a degree that it ruins the overall productivity of the group. If so, it becomes a negative recruitment, or in other words, a person you should not hire. We, at Performia, consider it vital to understand this last factor before you make your hiring decision.

Knowledge about a person’s personality

It is a fact that the more knowledge you have about a person’s personality (both positive and negative), the easier it is for you to take responsibility for utilizing that person correctly, and thus make sure the company takes advantage of his or her abilities, while avoiding putting that individual in situations where weaknesses will come “alive”. Thus, ideally, you should have enough information that you, as a manager, can predict potential negative scenarios where production could be hurt, and instead create possible solutions for both the individual concerned and the group. Indeed, such scenarios should and can be reduced, and ideally eliminated. The more you know about a person’s strong and weak areas, the better you can take responsibility and make sure things will go right for the company, as well as for you and the new employee.

The worst combination

The worst combination of these three factors is naturally a person who is neither performing well nor being productive, and who has big problems cooperating with others but will absolutely stay and never leave. Unfortunately, this is the reality that you as a manager will sometimes find yourself up against.

Attracting the right people

Performia specializes in educating businesspeople around the world, not only on how to detect and hire those high-quality, productive, loyal and cooperative individuals who can help your business grow, but also on what you need to do to convince those kinds of people to actually apply to your company.

There are certainly more criteria that can and should be considered, but those are normally subsections to the three areas above. For example, the level of technical skill. In some jobs that is the most critical point to consider, in order to ensure the possibility of any productivity. An example of this could be advanced computer programming. In order to have the slightest chance to be productive in that role, you normally need quite successful experience. How long does it take for a person with little or no knowledge about programming to be able to really function and thus individually contribute on a really high level in an advanced programming position? Most of us know it could take years. And without that specialized experience it does not really matter how social, service-minded and rational the person is generally.

We sometimes see companies that have their programmers located in some high-security area of the premises, and often we don’t see much of those people during business hours. Still, they might be one of the keys to the success of the entire operation. Their personalities are often not “ideal” and you might not want them to speak directly with your clients. However, to find what needs to be fixed and corrected within your system, they might be crucially important.

However, our need to find actual valuable results produced in the past never gets reduced by someone having some “specialized knowledge”, because if that knowledge has not really resulted in value and production thus far, it is utterly unlikely that it will happen in the future. You should at least know that you are taking on an enormous risk when you hire based on hope – which is simply not recommended – rather than on observable facts and proven results.

Mårten Runow
Founder of Performia International

I have noticed during my 30+ years of experience in recruiting new personnel how important the interview can be if you want a really successful recruitment process. I will give you some advice here on how to prepare for such an interview with candidates.

Preparation:

1. Read the candidate’s CV to quickly get an idea of what the candidate has been focusing on in his/her working career.
2. Be prepared to take notes and do that, and simply that, throughout the interview.
3. Note down all questions you might have from reading the CV. These questions can be a good warm-up to make the candidate comfortable, and it also demonstrates that you have an active interest in this particular person.
4. When the candidate arrives, be ready to make things comfortable for him or her. Offer something to drink, demonstrate respect and decide to give your full attention to this individual. No company can afford bad manners on their hiring lines. The PR and word of mouth about your company depends on it to some degree. Have something to write down the candidate’s answers on. Be prepared to take notes.
5. Decide to focus on getting a clear idea of the candidate’s actual past production and be willing to ask “dumb” questions in case you don’t understand something.

Interview:

1. Realize that any candidate, whether great or not, has in fact taken the time to send you an application and travel to your office, and that demands some respect, no matter what. Just because there are few jobs available at the moment and lots of applicants, there is no reason to become arrogant. In a year from now the situation might be reversed. I repeat: It is much better to treat all candidates in a very respectful manner.
2. Carefully observe the candidate and be interested in what the candidate is talking about; make sure you understand what is being said and acknowledge each answer after you understand it.
3. Find out what the main reason was for applying to this position. (Was it personal interest or the need to do or learn something new, the urge to make more money, or any other reason, or is it a combination of different factors?)
4. Give the candidate a quick orientation regarding your company and the position you are hiring for, and ask the candidate if he/she has any questions at this point.
5. Ask some straight questions regarding his or her current job situation. Be curious and interested and focus on finding out about his or her production. What was contributed, how much and in what time, and who might be able to verify it.
6. Avoid using questions that direct the candidate to an expected answer such as: “We are looking for someone who is quick, effective and service-oriented. How would you describe yourself?”
7. If any question crosses your mind, or you start to become aware of something regarding the candidate during the interview, just ask about it. For example: If the candidate is nervous to the point where you notice it, just ask him “are you nervous?”; this should help to relieve the tension, and the candidate won’t have his attention focused on whether or not you have noticed his nervousness.
8. If you have done a test and already have the test results, you can definitely ask questions based on that information. In the Performia hiring training, you can find lots of advice on how to do this effectively.
9. Maintain a friendly yet professional attitude throughout the entire interview, and if you say you will get back to him or her with some information, make sure to keep that promise.

It is important to take into consideration a candidate’s previous results before you decide to hire him. The fact that a candidate has produced before and can prove it is VERY valuable in order to avoid severe hiring mistakes. This does not mean that a formerly productive person cannot become a failure in a new position BUT, and this is important, he or she is normally as interested as you in resolving a situation, and you will seldom experience complications in case you need to part ways.

Who wants to get a striker who has never scored a goal onto a football team? Who wants to hire a director of a sales department who has never increased the sales of a group in any area? Or who would hire a director of manufacturing who never started or stably increased production anywhere?

Even though most people agree that it is important to know about past production, many managers and executives sign employment contracts without even looking at or verifying the results given by the candidates. This could lead to VERY expensive and completely unnecessary mistakes.

Areas that one preferably should pay some attention to during the hiring process include:

Positive:

• Candidate has no problem proving his or her high production in a previous job(s).
• Candidate can prove that his/her results in a previous job(s) were above average.
• Production increased through the years and, if this was not always true, the candidate can talk about it and tell you what happened when it went down.
• Candidate was in a difficult situation and he/she managed to resolve it.
• There are no “holes” in the candidate’s CV that could not be easily explained.
• Candidate showed a clear interest in the part of the interview related to production and results.
• Candidate does not have the slightest problem giving you contact info for people who should know his or her level of production.

Negative:

• Candidate is not able or, worse, not willing to provide the production records from a previous job.
• There was a lack of obvious value-creating results in previous jobs.
• Production through the years has been decreasing. The candidate doesn’t seem to think that is a problem.
• Candidate has a big problem defining what valuable results he/she produced in previous jobs.
• Candidate doesn’t seem to have resolved any difficult situations.
• There are “holes” in the candidate’s CV that cannot be explained in a simple way. That a candidate was not successful in one of his earlier jobs does not necessarily disqualify him or her.
• Candidate showed very little interest in the part of the interview related to production and results.
• Candidate is hesitant to give the contact info of his/her former employer for reference.

Performia recommendation: While making your decision whether or not to hire someone, we urge you to focus on the above-mentioned statements. Do this until you know. And if this is very complicated, realize that that is a bad indicator all in itself, drop that candidate and look for another one.

Linda and Steve met at River Rooster / CHOOKS fresh & tasty in 1997. Steve was the owner of the brand and growing a new franchise, and Linda started to help him with her expertise in advertising and marketing. Soon she joined the company as General Manager until Steve sold this network of 43 stores in 2010. During this time, Linda was awarded with the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2012 FCA Excellence in Franchising Woman in Franchising award for Western Australia. Steve was the President of the Western Australia Chapter of the Franchise Council of Australia from 2003 – 2008, and both Linda and Steve have been state committee members of the Franchise Council of Australia for many years.

Now they are partners at Think DONE Management Consultancy full time. Steve is the “King of Strategy” and Linda is the “Queen of Efficiency”. What do they do? Help executives to get things done. Here we present an interview with Linda and Steve.

Linda, could you give me a short summary of your company and what you do?

DONE is the most powerful word in the universe, and everything we have developed is around that one word. When we first started consulting, we were called “Think BIG”; but not everyone wants to be big – they want to be solid and get stuff DONE, so we changed our name to better reflect our philosophy. Our business is helping businesses to become more efficient from an organisation point of view; to get them to think strategically and tactically: all the little things that have to be done. We also specialise in franchising.

Steve, tell me how Think DONE is unique for your clients? What do you offer that other companies do not?

What I find with every company is that there are two things missing or not done as well as they could to be. No or illogical planning and bad organisational structure often results in the inability to get plans fully executed.

The challenge is said to be the failure to implement whatever the plan might be. Consultants say this is the owner’s problem, and we say it is the consultant’s issue.

What we do is find out what the issue is at the time, what’s needed, and what’s also needed long-term, and then get our clients to accomplish what is needed.

Steve and
Linda with the
fabulous CHOOKS
management
team, working
through their
weekly plans.

Steve, what are some of the biggest challenges that business owners have in your experience of working with them at Think DONE?

In most cases, the biggest challenge and the problem is the owners. Owners tend to do what they know and like. The biggest challenge, they say, is people and their problems.

They will say finance, lending; can’t get a loan, can’t find the right people. All those come along if they don’t have systems and procedures in place to know what they are actually looking for. They don’t have the organisation in place to know what they need.

But it goes back to the business owner first and understanding first that they don’t know. They also tend to make reactive decisions, whereas decisions need to be commercial and proactive.

Linda, how many staff did you have when you first started working with Performia in CHOOKS fresh & tasty and how many were there in the final year?

We started working with Performia in 2006. We had 19 stores and 300 staff. By 2010, when we sold, we had 39 stores plus 4 being built to make a total of 43. We had roughly 700 staff at that point.

Steve, what was your first experience working with Performia?

I first had a Performia evaluation on myself. We all think we are better than we are. I took notice of some of the things mentioned and was able to improve with training. I enjoyed the training and could easily relate to it.

Before you started working with Performia, what problems did you encounter regarding personnel?

We had big problems in the franchisee area. We were taking on franchisees who were good people, but we didn’t know how to manage them. Some were not suitable for franchising, some not suited to running a business. We took them on in the early days because we thought we could get on with them… if they had a heartbeat we would consider them, but that’s not how you do franchising. We learnt the hard way.

Linda, was it hard to find productive people for CHOOKS fresh & tasty?

It was hard to find the right franchisees. We were not just looking to find someone to cook chicken. We were looking for people we could train to look after their team. Being able to find franchisees was the reason we went to do the Performia training.

Linda, the company grew significantly. What do you think is behind this success?

We had a fantastic team at the head office. The team we had were very cohesive, worked together, and we were all on the same page. When we sold in 2010, I hadn’t had anyone leave our team for 2 years. Staff retention was very high. This was obviously from choices we had made using Performia and the training that went with it. We also had a fantastic bunch of franchisees.

Steve, before you started working with Performia, what problems did you encounter regarding personnel?

When I had 5 stores and 120 staff, I was powerful as a franchisee. The reason I became a franchisor was because people wanted to use my brand. I had an idea that we wanted 15 stores, but we made all the mistakes that we possibly could. We had 15 disasters.

Even when we were trained and licensed to use the Performia hiring system, I went against the recommendation on 3 cases, and those 3 decisions cost me one million dollars. I went against the recommendations of Performia and our entire team. I thought I was trying to be nice to somebody. I thought I could help them, change them. And I did this three times.

Linda, has measuring productivity in your company changed interactions within the team?

It can be absolutely fantastic. Productive people love it; it gives them that new challenge. Up is good, down is not good, and they want that graph to go up. When they learn it’s about getting production increasing, they produce more, they start playing the game and start being a team.

Linda, what do you think is the biggest advantage of using the Performance check?

The certainty you would get that the person could understand what production was and play the game to improve and succeed.

Can you imagine hiring people without checking productivity or without measuring it?

SH: Wouldn’t even consider it. We wouldn’t take anyone without some good evaluation and knowing and understanding they are about production, incentive, reward for production, and understand the penalty for no production.

LS: I cannot think of any other way of doing it. I have seen some clients hire in the most unusual way. It is a waste of time and a waste of personal energy. You place your heart and soul in someone and think they will be fantastic.

Performia can give you such valuable information, to know what are the true colours of any employee before they’re hired or interviewed.

Would you recommend checking and measuring productivity to others? Why?

LS: I would. It saves you time, heartache, money. You have better things to do with all your resources than devote them to a maybe/average candidate.

SH: Yes! Businesses need good, honest and loyal staff who are ethical. If you have this, you can train them in knowledge they might lack. When hiring in this form, your values and culture will come through.