By Susan Saldibar

It’s been a while since I hired anyone. But I remember the great hires. And I wish I could forget the lousy ones. The great ones were luck. The awful ones were the result of asking a bunch of rote questions, nodding my head, and relying on gut instinct.

Both are huge hiring mistakes. Maybe you’ve made some of them. 

The way we hired back in the day would be found under the “don’t do this” section of a book called Who, which presents an A talent hiring/management methodology that, frankly, if my employer had used it, may have resulted in showing me the door.

The model put forth in Who is logical, systematic, and tough. But it works. 

And that’s why Brett Landrum and the folks at Procare HR (a Foresight partner) are using many of its principles to guide their own hiring, as well as making them part of the innovative HR business platform they provide to their clients.

Sick of aiming for A talent and settling for B or C talent? Brett knows your world. 

Steve Moran caught up with Brett in the inaugural episode of a new series, Workforce Wednesday. (Watch the video here. You won’t be disappointed.) They talked about the book, its philosophy, and why Brett believes it’s resulting in better hires who stay longer.

But anyone can read a book. It’s what Brett and Procare HR are doing — using many of the concepts in the book and putting them into action for their clients — that makes the difference. It’s not rocket science, as he is quick to say. But it’s not easy.

It starts with something called a job scorecard. 

This is a platform that helps you define exactly who you are looking for and what you want them to accomplish. Using it weeds out those candidates who are probably never going to work out. It can be a pain in the neck to put together (it’s one of the many services they provide), but if you want A talent on your team, this is how you get it.

The job scorecard methodology allows management to do a lot of things, including:

  • Define and measure success. This means creating specific measurements for each employee that denote success so that you can tell them at any given time, “Here’s where you fall on your success measurements.” They are the guideposts to everything they do. So even if they blow it from time to time, you both know if they’re on track.
  • Bring clarity to job performance. You can never be too clear. Clarity in roles and goals is especially important for executive directors, who have a lot of autonomy. The good ones will welcome clarity so that there’s no confusion as to what success looks like.
  • Ditch the “gut feelings” for objectivity. Just because they’re a super chill person, that doesn’t mean they’re going to hit it out of the park as an executive director or regional VP — or anything else, for that matter. Too many HR folks get stoked on a person’s personality and ignore tons of red flags. Unless every single manager is saying, “Heck yeah,” to hiring someone, don’t hire them.
  • Create a culture that’s more than a handshake. Authentic culture is built on discipline, execution, and having the right systems in place. Doesn’t sound warm and fuzzy, but it’s how you’ll find the A level executive directors who like the discipline and want to work hard because they love seeing the value it brings. That’s culture.

Here’s how Brett and his team are helping clients bring their A game. 

First, they are helping operators and investors manage and control their biggest spend, which is labor. And they’re doing it in a way that provides measured goals, clarity, consistency, and discipline.

In other words, they do all the “unfun” stuff (as Steve Moran would say) so that you can concentrate on attracting, hiring, and hanging on to your A talent.

Check out the Workforce Wednesday episode, because there is a ton more wisdom from Brett and Steve than I’ve captured here. Then check out Procare HR’s mix of comprehensive HR services. They’re tailored to our industry. They’re well worth taking a look at if you’re out for A’s.