The Metiss Group's Blog

Recruiting does not end when a new employee starts. It is important to cement retention during the first 90 days of employment. Hiring managers must make sure the employee’s desk is prepared for their first day.  Do they have a computer? Are their phones ready? Is their work area ready?  Is there a plan for their first few days, including lunch?  And most important of all: do they understand their accountabilities?

Hiring managers should meet with the new direct report on their first day, and on a regular basis during the first 90 days to provide feedback and review the new hire’s accountabilities. It is best for the hiring manager to formally check in with the new direct report at 30, 60, and 90 days to see if their expectations match reality, whether they have all of the resources they need, and to provide mutual feedback.

Hiring managers need a plan to provide adequate training and resources for the new direct report so that they can be successful. This doesn’t mean just providing them with manuals to read.  Hiring managers should have the new hire shadow people in different areas or have some of the most experienced people share war stories.  If they must read manuals, schedule breaks at various sections of the manual to discuss application of what they read to the work they will be doing.

Considering all of the hiring manager’s resources it took to recruit a new hire, it is important for them to cement the relationship with the new hire and empower them for success right from the beginning.

Microsoft announced a few years ago they are abandoning their controversial “stack ranking” system for evaluating employees.  For years, Microsoft managers had been required to grade employees against one another and rank them on a scale of one to five.  Under this approach, some employees must receive an unfavorable review based on how they compared to their peers, regardless of the quality of their work or their accomplishments.  This created great angst for both managers and employees and was the primary factor for Microsoft’s poor morale.

Jack Welch similarly mandated a 20-70-10 differentiation process at GE.  Each GE department head was required to identify 20% of their superstars, 70% producers, and the 10% low performers needing to be terminated.  Even in an organization as large as GE, both managers and employees rejected this approach.

There is nothing wrong with differentiating a team – superstars should be treated differently than questionable contributors – but forced ranking is not the best approach.  The best differentiation models identify specific rigid criteria required to be identified as a superstar, producer, or questionable. It doesn’t matter what percent of a team are superstars as long as they achieve or surpass the established challenging success factors (both achievement metrics and cultural/behavioral performance). Similarly, those team members failing to meet their success factors and falling into the questionable category should be working on an exit plan, regardless what percent of the team this represents.

Empowered leaders who differentiate based on predetermined success factors instead of a forced ranking have more successful teams.

Job accountabilities are the three to five major job function groupings every job should have.  Within each of the accountabilities, there are the job function details, expected percentage of time spent, and success factors.  For added clarity and to help the direct report when faced with conflicting activities, prioritize the accountabilities.

Typical sales accountabilities are prospecting, closing the sale, post sales service, and administrative activities.  What is the most important function?  Is closing the sale more important than prospecting?  Prioritizing accountabilities ensure the leader and the direct report are on the same page.

Leaders should spend time with their direct reports and help them prioritize their accountabilities.  If everything seems equal, at least come up with a #1 priority (the best way to determine the #1 accountability is to ask if the direct report has an extra 30 minutes before their week ends, in what job function should they spend their time).

Leaders who prioritize their direct report’s job functions empower them to focus on what is most important for success.