If you spend just a little time watching TV or social media, you will find excuses for not having enough employees or the right employees. A year ago, it was the “quiet quitting” all over social media, showcasing that unhappy employees were doing the absolute minimum in their jobs as a way to protest low wages and lack of development. You saw it on TV and many social platforms, so it MUST be true right? Quick question: Did you see it at YOUR office or on your production floor? Did YOU actually experience employees quiet quitting? Likely not.
Twenty years ago, Baby Boomers shouted to anyone who would listen that the millennial generation was going to be the laziest and least productive generation yet. It was all over the news, so it must be true right? So why do driven millennials likely make up the majority of your reliable and dedicated workforce today? With the oldest of this generation approaching 43 years old, they may actually be the supervisors, managers and V.P’s of your company. So, what happened?
As with these examples, you begin to see that the media gives us the excuse to “blame the world” for the fact that you may not have enough of, or the right, employees. Do you really want it to be the world’s fault? If it’s the world’s fault, then there is nothing you can do about it… might as well board up the windows and lock the doors. …Of course, that is not the case.
If you didn’t have enough of or the right CUSTOMERS, is that the world’s fault? If you don’t have the right financing, raw materials, capital equipment or transportation, is that the world’s fault? Of course not. If you have any of those problems, you would take it upon yourself to find other sources and alternative methods. Because this is YOUR business, you would never let anyone tell you that solving a problem was outside of your control.
So here is a simple question to audit your hiring efforts against: “Are you working as hard to find your next great employee as you are your next great customer?” Here’s what that question is getting at: YOU have control over the situation. It means that you can use many of the tools and ideas you use to find new customers to also find great new employees.
Here’s what should bother you every time you catch yourself blaming the world for you hiring woes: “Why are people showing up reliably everyday for jobs that are not as good as the ones YOU have available?” What would it take them to make those people aware of your opportunity and bring great people to you?
More to come…
