In Part I, we depicted the natural evolution of employee growth in the business lifecycle, and how to identify and recognize your potential and current employees hiding in plain sight by weaving the core values of your business into your employee lifecycle. We also discussed how to identify prime candidates in the hiring process, and recognize consistent top performers. These prime candidates and top performing employees would otherwise be hiding in plain sight, and your business would miss the opportunity to hire or retain such talent. In Part II, we will explore how to utilize people analysis to identify missed opportunities for employees, and elevate those employees to their true potential. Now that we have determined the missing criteria to identify these opportunities, it is time to shift gears into existing criteria that could be holding your employees back from reaching their true potential within your business. 

Once you have the right people, how can you ensure that the qualifying criteria translates to results? The short answer is that you can’t. Interviews are nothing more than auditions, and with enough preparation, anyone can nail it in the moment. Depending on the person and situation, they can even ride out the “fake it ‘til you make it” approach for months after being hired. And, members of the leadership team may even prolong that timeline, enabling the farce to continue because the employee “aligned so well with our core values”. While aligning the core values of your business with your employee lifecycle makes a significant impact on identifying and recognizing the right people, it does not address the whole picture. 

In both hiring and employee evaluation, you review their performance on two high level aspects; how they align with and embody the core values of your business, and how they perform in their designated role within the business. We have established how to identify the right people, but far too often overlooked is the alignment of the right people to the right role for them. 

If a candidate feels that your brand story or internal ethos resonates strongly with their values, they may apply to any and all open positions you have at the time. For these candidates, they care more about who they work for than how they work for them. And, in all actuality, these types of applicants usually end up investing in your business for the long term, making them incredibly valuable employees. Yet, when an employee embodies the core values of your business, but falls short on their KPIs, they are viewed as underperformers. Sometimes these underperformers can skate under the radar their whole career, never being recognized, challenged or elevated. Other times, they are put on a performance plan, and are either terminated through disciplinary action, or quit because they no longer feel secure in their role.

Through the foundational standards that you have woven into the core of your business covered in Part I, we know that this employee is the right person. The all too often overlooked component to address is whether or not the right person is in the right role. Some of this consideration is already ingrained in the hiring process during candidate interviews. But, again, if a candidate truly aligns and resonates with your business, their priority is to work for your business, regardless of how. And, with determination and preparation, anyone can nail an interview. Because the hiring process relies so heavily on interviews to evaluate and determine candidates for specific roles, there is usually no further discussion or evaluation of that match beyond the hiring process. This is yet another example of an untapped talent hiding in plain sight. 

When an employee is identified as an underperformer, or not meeting performance expectations, it is imperative to execute a people analysis on them prior to initiating any type of formal performance plan or discipline. This analysis evaluates whether the employee is the right person for the business, and whether the right role has been assigned to the person. Throughout Part I, we established how to identify the right people for the business. So, let’s just assume that the employee in question has been evaluated on how they align with the core values of the business, and has been identified as the right person for the business. The next step is to evaluate the right person’s role. As we have already identified this employee as an underperformer, we can determine that this employee is not in the right role for them to be able to reach their full potential within the business. Using the results of the employee’s role performance, we can categorize their current scope of responsibilities as strengths and opportunities. This will provide a clear set of criteria to cross-compare with other roles within the business.

Let’s put this into a real world scenario. In this example, the employee being evaluated yields the following results based on their current role of sales representative:

In the employee’s current role as a sales representative, they have clear strengths and opportunities identified. For reference, historically sales representatives are very team oriented through their competitive nature, require the ability to small talk with clients, take risks over logic, and be able to walk clients through lengthy onboarding and support processes. From the role analysis results above, we can easily see that the employee displays all of these role criteria points as opportunities. So, we can safely say that this right person is in the wrong role. Now what?

Utilizing the results, we can cross-compare with the other roles of the business to determine a better match for the employee. During this comparison, the ideal would be to find a role that turns the employee’s opportunities into strengths. The example results above, for instance, could align with a project management, data analysis, operations, leadership, or compliance role. When you discuss the analysis results and new role opportunities with the employee, you can retain the right person by identifying and elevating them to the right role. In the rare instance that the employee does not align with any other role in the business, you can confidently make the decision to part ways. 

At any given moment, you could be overlooking top talent and lifelong investments that are hiding in plain sight. Don’t miss out on these opportunities for your business. Ensure that the core values of your business are woven into the core of the business, and that you set the right people up for success with the right role for them. Your next all-star could already be hiding in plain sight. Go get ‘em!

When you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here for you.