Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Have you ever had problems establishing a new habit? Perhaps the better question is, have you ever not had a problem establishing a new habit? Whether it is becoming more organized, eating less, learning a musical instrument, writing in a journal—establishing a new habit is excruciatingly difficult. But, have you noticed that once you've gone through the difficult process of establishing a routine, it becomes easier to maintain?
Let's use exercising as an example. Most people find that exercising every day is easier than exercising only once or twice a week. Establishing a pattern makes the exercise event easier over time. Soon, the pattern becomes a habit, the habit becomes a culture—and once established as a culture, it is very difficult to break.
Personally, I discovered this human characteristic when studying for my college classes. I found it much easier to hit the books every night than every once in a while. By making the process of nightly studying a habit, opening the books became a painless undertaking—a natural act instead of an accomplishment.
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Sticky Notes:
The business leader should strive to make effective hiring an organizational habit.
Work on establishing small consistent changes as you establish a new culture.
... and back to the mission.
MATCH is intended to establish hiring process habits in a similar way—habits that will hopefully become an integral part of your organization's culture.
Before you can begin habitualizing hiring best practices, there are two critical elements that must be in place.
The culture of effective hiring must start at the top of the organization. In fact, this is the heart of leadership—establishing culture. Great leaders don't dictate; they develop community around concepts. To create a culture of effective hiring, the rallying cry must be around the hiring process.
Note: I am often asked, "What if my organization does not care about hiring the right people? Can I facilitate change?" The answer is an infuriating "maybe."
I have seen nonrecognized leaders experience great fulfillment by helping recognized leadership teams create a culture of effective hiring. It is not surprising that the instigator of the movement to create a culture of effective hiring often finds themselves quickly promoted to a role of recognized leader.
The other result, which I have seen as well, is that the instigator either leaves or is asked to leave the company. In both cases, I believe that the individual will find him- or herself in a better spot.
The culture of effective hiring must always map back to the mission. A flimsy or superficial mission will not stimulate the best and the brightest; nor will tomorrow's leaders be inspired by a "flavor of the day" approach to creating a culture of hiring. The movement must be authentic or it will fail. The organization's mission must transparently act as the cornerstone of its culture. The cause must be the mission, with the effect being an appropriate hire—and that cause and effect model must be clear to all.
The Japanese philosophy kaizen gives us an excellent model to utilize as we attempt to foster a culture of effective hiring. Kaizen focuses on continuous but small change. The person who introduced me to kaizen suggested that organizational change is akin to changing the course of an ocean liner. As with an ocean liner, there are no shortcuts in establishing a culture of effective hiring.
We live in an impatient world. We want change overnight, but rarely is the human organism capable of such immediate change. Though we might be able to discipline ourselves for a short period, we often revert to our previous behavior. To change culture we must think of our company as that ocean liner, making slow and steady process toward the goal of a culture that celebrates the exceptional hire.
The kaizen approach can be represented in the story of an individual who wants to wake up an hour earlier. Instead of going "cold turkey" and setting the alarm an hour earlier, kaizen would have the early riser get up a minute earlier for 60 days. The belief is that bodies adapt better to slow and steady change. Just as this works with individuals looking to change their habits, the philosophy of kaizen has been applied by very successful corporations. In fact, Toyota counts kaizen as one of the cornerstones of its success.
I am not suggesting here that you imitate Toyota by implementing a kaizen program. My point is simply to encourage you to go slow and steady as you attempt to make systemic changes.
Culture is not something that you can buy or a goal that can be attained. It is truly never finished. Culture must be contemplated, focused on, prodded, and discussed—with passionate fanaticism—always. My dad, Bert Erling, always told me, "Being unsatisfied is a good thing." And as is often the case, my dad was right.
No organization ever "arrives" at an effective hiring culture. There are too many moving parts for us to rest on our laurels. Economic changes, hiring patterns, social trends, and more create an ever changing world that requires extraordinary focus in order to stay competitive. However, the MATCH process offers a systematic approach for constantly pushing hiring culture onto your organizational radar screen.
You can focus on a culture of hiring excellence by establishing and maintaining a monthly or quarterly checkup. This should not be a session where the leadership team gets together and talks about specific hiring issues; in fact, every attempt should be made to avoid specifics. Rather, these meetings should be philosophical discussions that might include topics such as:
What are we doing to attract the best talent?
Are we communicating our need for talent to each member of our team? What could we do better in this arena?
What is our competition doing to attract talent?
Who have we lost recently? How could this loss have been avoided (if at all)?
Are we constantly improving our hiring process?
Are we gaining insight from our feedback loop?
Are we making progress in establishing a culture of effective hiring?
On and on, and on and on. . . .
The process of reflection—of returning some portion of the output to the input of the system—must be done over and over again. Over time, the organization chart, the corporate culture, the job descriptions, the competency profile, and the like will become more and more refined. This will create a culture where the right person will be hired increasingly more often.
We started with the mission, and we end with the mission. Through the MATCH process employees of the organization gain ownership and align intrinsically with the company's mission. As you move through the steps of this methodology, not only are you improving the odds of hiring the right person every time, but you are also strengthening your team. Using the MATCH process brings everyone together around the values of your organization.