The Great Workplace Toolbox

Self Assessment - Exercise - Perspectives - Examples - Back to the Toolbox

Self Assessment

1. Do you know who your best employees are?
   
2. Can you identify the characteristics that help your best employees succeed?
   
3. Do you look for those qualities in new hires?
   
4. Can you link every position in your organization to your mission statement?
   
5. If your best employee left tomorrow, what would you do?
   
6. Have you asked your best employees what attracted them to your organization, what motivates them, and what makes them stay?

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Exercise: Mission Tree

Draw a diagram that illustrates how all the positions/functions/departments in your organization support your mission statement. Are you able to connect all functions to your mission? What functions don't seem to fit? Why are they essential to your organization's operations? Next, try to identify a top performer in each functional area. Can you do it? What makes them top performers?

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Perspectives
Top talent is essential to the success of your organization...but if you're not sure who your best employees are and what makes them so valuable, how can you maintain a workplace that supports their needs, motivates their performance, and attracts new great talent to your organization?

There is no magic formula or spreadsheet that any organization can use to define top talent. It is a highly unique internal process that takes effort on the part of many people. However, if the end result is a profile of what you would consider the "ideal" employee at your organization, it is well worth the time and effort.

Once you know who your top employees are, why not ask them why they think they're so successful? What workplace characteristics attracted them to your organization, what continues to drive them to succeed, and why do they stay? Use those answers to help you determine how you should continue supporting your current top performers and how you can better market employment to top talent and improve your recruiting process.

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Examples

• Nutriscience Technologies has identified four core competencies that all their employees should exemplify including Communication, Job Knowledge, Judgment, and Teamwork. In addition, supervisors/managers are assigned eight (8) additional competencies including Managing People, Innovation, Planning/Organizing, Achievement Focus, Problem Solving, Business Acumen, Leadership, and Strategic Thinking. All other positions work with their supervisors to identify six (6) additional critical competencies necessary for their individual positions.

  This approach led to a total recruitment cost per new employee reduction of 38% from 2004 – 2005. Voluntary turnover was also reduced by 8.6% over the same period, attributed to internal promotion of the company’s culture and effective communication and follow through (“Walk the Talk”) from the perspective of new hires.

• Lubrizol clearly defines what it means to be an “Outstanding Contributor” in their organization and how that individual should be rewarded. To be an Outstanding Contributor, one must exceed the expectations of their supervisors and perform in a consistent manner in terms of how well they coach and serve as a "go-to" person for other employees; their demonstration of excellent interpersonal and leadership skills; their ability to find opportunities to enhance individual, departmental, and company performance; and demonstrates a willingness to exceed expectations and challenge the status quo, etc.
  

• Detroit Diesel invites applicants who successfully complete pre-employment testing, a screening interview, and a final interview to a pre-employment orientation. The applicant is encouraged to bring a significant other to the orientation which is typically a 2-hour on-site program. Depending on the position and number of applicants, several candidates may be invited to the same session.

  During the program, applicants hear presentations on the organization’s philosophy, company culture, wages, benefits and shift processing, and are given a plant tour. Usually, a job offer is made the night of the orientation to all applicants.

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