Hiring The Right People

It doesn’t hurt to be reminded of Jim Collins‘ thoughts on having the ‘right people on the bus’ – it is who you get on for the bus ride that will determine the success of the journey. This all applies to hiring the right people. 

As we recruit a whole bunch of people for a major RedBalloon initiative, our Employee Experience team (HR professionals) is focusing on what is really important as part of the casting of our ‘Retail Superstars’.

As Jim says, hiring the right people consists of finding those who:

• Fit with the company’s core values
• Don’t need to be tightly managed
• Understand that they do not have ‘jobs’ – they have responsibilities
• Fulfil their commitments
• Are passionate about the company and its work
• Display ‘window- and mirror’ maturity (for me that means they are accountable for their decisions)

Our people are the brand. We take much effort and energy to fine tune our marketing messages. Given that ‘employees are the new customers‘ then our team require at least as much attention as we give to our marketing programs, if not more – and the job is never done. There is always more that we can do.

Employee engagement is a journey, not an activity. It is part of the way we do things around here – not a program or initiative. Developing leaders at every level of the organisation is critical to achieving employee engagement.

We are not finished yet… there is always so much more to do. 

For more of Jim’s philosophies and findings, see the books below: