ONE key component in the management of a business is the recruitment of people. While it is important to find candidates with the right skill sets for the job, it is also important to find candidates who have the right mindset to blend in with the organisation.

The latter is critical from a long-term people retention perspective. Organisations in general do not seem to spend enough effort in analysing a candidate's potential acceptance of the organisation's business identity and corporate culture.

They mainly focus on identifying what technical skills the candidates have, despite the fact that a candidate's emotional association with the organisation will be a decisive factor of his or her future loyalty and commitment to the organisation.

Both the employer and the employee need to understand that there are at least two major aspects of any task or position to consider. The first is to ensure that people understand the tasks they are to perform and to equip them with the necessary tools to be able to perform those tasks at the highest quality possible.

Finding the right fit

The other is to make sure they fully understand the purpose of their roles and the impact their work will have on the organisation as a whole, ie, they must know and understand the needs of their 'customers'.

It is the sum of all activities that forms the business and only if people fully understand what their roles are in this context, can they proactively add value to the business.

This 'bird's eye view' of the business can be referred to as the 'work puzzle'. Every individual has a role to play in the organisation and they need to know which piece of the puzzle they represent. If they do not contribute, the puzzle will be incomplete.

This metaphor should be the guiding principle for structuring teams, as teams based on integrated functions and cross hierarchical structures will strengthen team building and increase each individual team member's contribution to enhanced business effectiveness.

By giving staff access to support and guidance on a consistent basis from the full range of competencies and experiences that exist within the organisation on both a horizontal and vertical business level, they will feel that they are an integrated part of the business and this will positively impact their commitment to the organisation.

For people to perform their best in a job, they not only need to feel associated with the organisation, but more importantly, they need the sponsorship of and guidance from the management. They will normally not reach a high performance level entirely on their own as they may simply not fully understand their roles or job scopes without that guidance.

It is a matter of explaining in a constructive and transparent manner what their work is all about and what is expected of them. The most effective way of conveying that message is to integrate coaching with actual work to showcase what, how and why certain tasks are done and how the different processes are linked to each other. It is also about explaining how the final output of their work contributes to other parts of the business.

The best results are achieved when people are put in roles where 'they do what they are best at', meaning they like what they do and are good at it. Organisations which find the right people for the jobs, or find the right jobs for its people, will assure a continuous appreciation of the people asset.

This will in turn, significantly improve the staff attrition rate and increase the organisation's potential for enhanced business improvement both in the short and long term.

Finding the right job fit for people requires an in-depth understanding of the individual staff member's potential in order to unlock that potential and to help him or her excel in that role.

When people interact with colleagues socially, they tend to reach out to peers or colleagues of the same ethnic group and this has partly to do with their unwillingness, in general, to move out of their social 'comfort zones'.

In a business context, this also happens in the form of peer groupings. However, as much as peer groupings can bond people together and contribute to a sense of belonging, they also run the risk of dividing staff and may lead to attitudes of 'us and them' among different categories of staff and management.

Such attitudes are detrimental as they will hamper the management's efforts in obtaining long-term loyalty and commitment from the staff. What makes such situations even worse is the fact that the less experience a person has, the more likely he or she will reach out to peers instead of asking the boss for guidance.

This is particularly risky in strict hierarchical organisations where there is little or no social interaction between the staff and the various hierarchical levels.

Daily interaction between staff and bosses, therefore, plays an important part in communication and bonding. A good corporate culture which allows 'stupid' questions makes people more confident in approaching their superiors for any guidance or assistance and also provides the best conduit for continuous learning and development of staff.

Organisations should also consider appointing 'buddies' within peer groups for all newcomers to help them smoothly settle into the organisation. This can be further complemented by a 'mentor' system, where someone in a more experienced and senior level acts as a personal coach to more junior staff.

As the sharing of knowledge is a key component in motivating staff to perform at their best, the management should organise its people into 'business teams' to enhance communication between junior and senior staff in order to capture the synergy of their combined work experience.

Personal performance indicators should not be set and measured at an individual level only, but also at a team level. This allocation of joint objectives should comprise all people in the organisation, both experienced staff as well as newcomers.

Having people work together within an effective team structure will provide the organisation with an overall enhanced business performance. It will provide the management with an effective foundation for its business execution and once the business teams are up and running, they will deliver a performance which will provide the organisation with a clear competitive advantage.

This article was first published in The Business Times on May 8, 2008

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