Roger Feihn, MIRM, CSP

The No. 1 determiner of the company’s success is the strength of the management team as this strength trickles down through all disciplines to the lowest level of support staff.  A true leader who is confident in his or her own tenure with the organization will consistently chose people who think faster than the leader, act faster than the leader, and continually achieve results above expectations. The best leaders in any industry are the ones who can choose team members well and will bask in the successes of his/her team members.

To make certain your fixed overhead is under control, you must first compare your present organizational structure to the last organizational chart that was in place when your previous annualized volume was approximately the same as today.  By doing this, you will probably see “employee creep” that occurred as your volume grew.  The only functional areas within a homebuilding/development company that have experienced change in the past several years are in technology, and this should not have grown fixed overhead.  Technology, properly invested, allows us to achieve higher levels of efficiency, most often measured in revenue per employee. How does your revenue-per-employee compare to the industry averages?  How about to your previous years performances?  A reduction in the r/e ratio could signal slowing efficiency of your present team members.

If you feel the present team may have become complacent in their positions, how about shaking them up to get them re-focused and re-energized? One way of accomplishing this is gather position descriptions from everyone in their functional area. Then meet with each team member individually to ask for their help in possibly restructuring some positions. During this meeting, let them look through the position descriptions of everyone in their functional area and simply ask the team member what he or she sees in any of the descriptions that they would feel comfortable adding to their responsibilities or trading off with someone else.  If there is a particular function a team member does not like, you will find out.  Or, if he or she volunteers to assume more responsibility ... voila, you have learned they were probably being underutilized.

Now look at the quarterly team member reviews conducted by you or your managers.  Are there new issues with a team member that have occurred the past few months or previous issues that are unresolved? Has the manager done everything in his or her power to assist the team member but not received a positive response?  Maybe it is time for damage control (many managers procrastinate terminating a team member as they feel it is a bad reflection on the managers’ ability to make quality hiring decisions) before further damage to the entire team occurs.

Now you have done your homework, so let’s make certain our process of recruiting, screening, hiring, training and motivating exceptional team members is in place.  Thanks to today’s technology, managers do not have to rely on their “gut feeling” to select the best candidate for any position. Hiring based on “gut feeling” usually ends up eventually giving the manager a sore gut.  A simple computerized predictive behaviorial survey can tell you with 95% accuracy whether a candidate has the proper balance of dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance to align with the position for which you are hiring. It also will reveal whether or not the candidate may better align with different position within your organization, should it come available.

Following is a systematic approach that is utilized by many “best practice” builders/developers to hire and retain excellent team members:

Be Prepared

Before launching any recruiting activity, you must first have a comprehensive position description outlining the skill requirements, responsibilities, accountabilities and end results of the job to be performed.  When creating the position description, stay focused on the position’s seven or eight key responsibilities, not the supporting minutiae. Be flexible with your requirements, particularly regarding industry experience, previous tenures, educational minimums, etc. You may miss an excellent candidate who may bring fresh solutions to your company.  Know the competitive compensation range for the position in your marketplace, but be flexible when discussing compensation issues.  A good response to a compensation questions may be “compensation is negotiable, based on your skill level, previous accomplishments, earnings history and expectations.”

Rely on Referrals

Many of your best candidates will be referred by your current team members. They certainly would not recommend someone who may not fit your culture and reflect badly on the team member if the new employee failed. The cost of recruiting will be minimal if you just simply post the position in your lunchroom and put an insert in the next payroll.  How about offering a team member who refers a candidate to you? If you hire the candidate, offer a referral bonus of several hundred dollars after the new team member has completed the 90-day “test drive” period.

Next, announce the open position to your “ambassadors” (everyone who benefits when you close a deal) via payroll insert, electronic media or fax. Again, your ambassadors will not knowingly refer a candidate that would reflect badly on the referring party.  The name of the game is NETWORKING!

If you have not been successful through your in-house or networking efforts next step would be trade publication, search engines and, only if absolutely necessary, newspapers.  Newspapers many times attract a large number of resumes of marginally qualified candidates who are grasping for a position ... any position.

Evaluate Resumés Closely

A candidate’s resumé will speak volumes regarding his or her ability to communicate effectively in writing. Does it outline the candidates work history in two pages or less? Is the history in chronological order with the most recent employer in first position?  Does it highlight the candidate’s accomplishments with each employer and reason for leaving?  Does it have grammatical or spelling errors (i.e., the candidate did not utilize a Thesaurus or spell check? Is there a cover letter addressed to your decision-maker?  Did the candidate personally deliver the resumé or, if e-mailed, faxed or mailed, did the candidate follow up to be certain you received it and determine if you require information needed to consider his/her credentials?

Do an Initial Screening

The resumé demonstrated how effectively the candidate can communicate in writing.  The next step is to determine how he or she communicates verbally. This should be done by a neutral third party (receptionist?) by phone.  Prior to contacting the candidate, create a script asking questions that will allow you to determine how closely the candidate’s credentials match the position description criteria. These questions will relate to the candidate’s experience in performing the tasks outlined in the position description. Once again, ask the candidate to recite his or her employment history. We find many times the candidate’s verbal recap of his or her employment history is not consistent with the information on the resumé. Be aware of federal laws which prohibit asking any questions that could be construed to be of a prejudicial nature.

First Impressions Count

A candidate who has shown his or her ability to effectively communicate in writing (resumé) and verbally (phone screening) should now be brought to your office for a visual compatibility opinion from a neutral third party (receptionist?).  The third party can assess how the candidate interacts with persons he/she perceives as being perhaps of lower authority. If the candidate is aloof, demeaning, fidgety or displays any attitude that would offend anyone in your organization, simply have him/her complete an application form and then tell them “you will be in touch.”  Every team member in your organization is the “face” of your company; you can’t afford to have people who will not represent your company the way you wish to be presented to the public and each other.

Prepare a Predictive Behavioral Survey

Now your candidate has passed the written, verbal and visual challenges and you have probably eliminated 90% of all candidates who have submitted resumés. To conduct an effective interview, you must have one more tool ... a predictive behavioral survey. This survey needs to be completed by the candidate prior to your first face-to-face interview and can be completed online. Prior to interviewing candidates for any position, create questions using the knowledge gained from the written, verbal, visual and electronic pre-qualification processes. This preparation allows you to remain focused during the interview and not be swayed by your emotions regarding the candidate. The questions you must ask yourself at the end of the interview is 1) will this person embrace our company philosophy?, 2) will he or she work effectively within our company culture and 3) what does this candidate “bring to the table” that another candidate would not.

Conduct a Team Interview

Structured interviews should be conducted by at least two existing team members with whom the new hire will interface and are not in the same functional area (i.e., if the candidate is in the administrative area, he/she should be interviewed by team members from operations and marketing. This accomplishes two very important functions: first, to make certain you, as the hiring manager, have not misjudged the candidate’s ability to effectively interface with persons from other areas and, secondly, to allow the candidate to forge relationships with others on the team. Following the team interviews, you should meet with team members and reach a consensus on the candidate’s potential fit within the company.  Team members from different areas will sometimes view the candidate differently than the hiring manager; it is of utmost importance for the candidate’s future success that he/she has the faith and confidence of all team members.

Move Quickly

Once consensus is reached, move toward negotiating any last-minute issues and quickly proceed with the job offer to the candidate. Sometimes, there is a tendency to prolong the decision-making process because “we just need to make certain we are hiring the right individual and want to evaluate more candidates.” Experience has shown us that the very best candidates are in high demand, and you must move quickly or your competition may.

Make the First 30 Days of Employment Count

The first 30 days in the life of a new team member is most critical as he or she integrates into the organization. The new employee must learn the policies and procedures and begin to be a contributor to the company’s success. However, too often we observe employers not taking the time to properly indoctrinate the new hire to the long-term detriment of the new employee and, subsequently, the company.  It is the hiring manager’s responsibility to ensure the new team member receives all information needed to understand the company and importance of his or her position to the rest of the organization. Give your new hire the company’s organizational chart and contact list immediately, so they can see his/her position relative to the company structure. You also should outline the company’s policies, procedures and benefits.  It is also wise to assign a team member to “mentor” the new hire during the start-up period.  This mentor can answer questions regarding sensitive issues that the new hire may be hesitant to ask until he/she is more comfortable in their new environment.

The Importance of Training

“Training your team members is the best investment you can make in their and your company’s future in a world where technology and market fluctuations daily change the way we must do business.” 

The Art of Motivation

Motivating the team begins with motivating the individual team members.  One must understand that each person has different DNA; therefore, there is no group fix to motivating your team members. Most exceptional executives have the ability to recognize and respect each individual and keep everyone moving toward the company goals.  The operating environment has great impact on the ability to keep people motivated. Do they have the knowledge and skills to effectively perform their assigned tasks? Do they have the technology and tools allowing them to effectively and efficiently perform their assigned tasks? Do they have a low-stress environment in which to perform their assigned tasks? Do they feel they have the management support to assist them when their tasks go out of balance?  Have you recognized the importance of their support team (their loved ones) in their success and developed a supporting relationship with the loved ones? 

Create Accountability

Holding team members accountable is largely an issue of clear communication and consistency. It began with the position description which explained the responsibilities of the Team Member. It continued with the predictive behavioral survey, which indicated the candidate’s views toward honesty and compliance.  And, once employed, the manner in which good news or bad news was communicated had an impact on the team member’s confidence in the organization and impact to his/her performance. Quarterly performance reviews served to make certain there were not communication issues regarding the team member’s performance.  Drucker’s “One-Minute Manager” principles were used for immediate discipline. The team member was held accountable only for tasks that were under his/her direct control.  We view accountability/responsibility issues like a baseball game (i.e., Strike One, Strike Two, Strike Three ...YOU’RE OUT!) 

When Things Don’t Work Out

Did you do everything in your power to assist the team member in overcoming any issues negatively affecting his/her performance?  Have you clearly communicated any concerns during your reviews and suggested solutions the team member should embrace?  If you can say yes to these questions, then termination is inevitable and should be unemotional and swift. Don’t let your emotions get in the way of your decision to terminate the employee. Your team members are a direct reflection of you, and you will be judged on your ability to select and manage excellent team members. You are just like a coach (i.e., Season One you lost; Season Two you lost; going into Season Three, who will be changed out? Certainly not the players, but the coach). Get it over with and go home for a good night’s sleep!

Roger Fiehn, MIRM, CMP, is president of Houston-based Roger Fiehn & Associates, Inc., management, marketing and sales specialists creating solutions to the challenges of the homebuilding and development industries. For more information, contact Fiehn at roger@rfiehn.com or visit his Web site, www.rfiehn.com.  [ return to top ]