ie engineer working on missile guidance systems. The 20 or so other engineers on the same project thought the work was mundane and put in the requisite 8 ho

7 Ways To
Find Highly Motivated Employees
Everyone wants to hire motivated people, but few people are
self-motivated to do any type work for any type of manager in all types of
business situations. Over the years I’ve discovered that it’s better to first discover
what drives self-motivation rather than looking for self-motivated people.
A story from long ago sets the foundation for this
conclusion. It happened when I was a rookie engineer working on missile
guidance systems. The 20 or so other engineers on the same project thought the
work was mundane and put in the requisite 8 hours and 15 minutes per day.
However, they all told me that in their prior jobs they had been going 24/7
doing essentially the same work. The only difference was the project. Their earlier
work was on President Kennedy’s moon landing program. For them, and the
thousands like them, that work was inspirational. The current work, although
essentially the same, had no grand purpose.
This was my first big lesson about motivation: For many
people, the impact of the work is often far more important than the actual work
as a driver of motivation and job satisfaction.
Over the next few years, as I started interviewing people, I
learned some other important lessons about motivation:
Motivation to get the job is not the same as motivation to do the job.
Introverted people can be just as motivated as extroverted
people.
Being prepared and on time for an interview offers no clue
to motivation.
On the job people, seek out work they like to do and avoid
work they don’t like to do.
Over the years these lessons have been incorporated into the
performance-based hiring process underlying my company’s recruiter and hiring
manager interview training programs. Here’s a summary of the process.
Using performance-based hiring to identify highly motivated
people
1. Clarify expectations up front. Define the work you need
done before you start interviewing candidates. Every job can be defined by six
to eight performance objectives. This is called a performance-based job
description. A reliance on a traditional skills-infested job descriptions
increases the chance you’ll hire someone less motivated to the do the work if
they find the actual job uninteresting. (Here’s the legal justification for
using performance-based job descriptions.)
2. Get examples of comparable accomplishments. For each
performance objective listed in the performance-based job description, ask the
candidate to describe a comparable accomplishment. “The Most Important
Interview Question of All Time” describes the process. This reveals the
types of work the candidate finds most motivating. (The full approach is
described in “The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired.”)
3. Peel the onion for each accomplishment looking for
initiative. As part of the behavioral fact-finding for each accomplishment, get
three examples of where the candidate took the initiative to do more than
required without being asked. Everyone can come up with one or two examples,
few can come up three or more. After two to three accomplishments you’ll see a
pattern of where the person goes the extra mile. This represents the type of
work the person find most motivating. Compare this to what you need done.
Roger Federer Wimbledon trophyGettyImagesAsk about recent
recognitions — it shows that a candidate is both motivated and talented.
4. For each accomplishment ask about the recognition the
person received. Just because someone is self-motivated in a certain area
doesn’t mean they’re good at it. However, if a person has received some formal
recognition for doing outstanding work and it’s related to work you need done,
you’ve likely found the candidate you should hire. Recognition could be in the
form of an award, being assigned to an important project, a special
commendation, a one-time bonus, or a promotion.
5. Ask, “Of all of the things you do, what do you like
to do most?” Then get three to four different examples of when the person
did these things in a variety of recent jobs. Follow the fact-finding approach
described in the most significant accomplishment question to fully understand
what drives the person’s self-motivation.
6. Ask about self-development. Find out how people improved
themselves, especially if they’ve been out of work for awhile. This should
confirm the other evidence of the types of work the person finds most
motivating.
7. Find out the circumstances behind the motivation. A great
manager is often just as important as an inspiring mission or unique culture.
Sometimes it’s being part of a start-up, an exciting industry, or critical
project. It could be working with an outstanding team or the actual work
itself. During the performance-based interview find out where the candidate
went the extra mile. Then seek out the cause. Unless this matches with your
job, it’s unlikely the person will be equally motivated.
With this information you’re now in a position to compare
your job to what motivates the candidate to excel. If your position offers
these things in abundance, you’ve found a strong candidate. Raise the caution
flag if there’s little recent evidence of the candidate being highly motivated
to do the work you need done under your existing circumstances. Ignoring this
is how you hire 90-day wonders. These are the people who seem great during the
interview, but 90 days later you wonder why you hired them.10 toxic
words you should never say in a job interviewLinkedIn Influencer Bernard Marr published this post
originally on LinkedIn.
There’s plenty advice out there to rehearse what you’re
going to say in a job interview: research questions the interviewer might ask,
practice your answers, come up with salient questions of your own…
But what about rehearsing what you’re not going to say?
I put together a list below of some words you’ll want to try to avoid at your
next job interview, because even though they seem like just ordinary words,
they could be major red flags for an interviewer or recruiter.No.
First of all, if asked even a simple question, you don’t want to give a single
word answer (yes or no). But when the answer is no, definitely don’t leave it
there! For example, if asked if you know a particular computer program, and you
don’t, you could say, “I haven’t yet had a chance to learn it but would be
interested to do so,” rather than simply saying “No.”Er… Um…
That old saying, “If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything at
all,” applies here a big. Rather than hemming and hawing while you try to
think up an answer, just be silent and think. Saying er or um too much could
make you seem unprepared or as though you’re not paying attention.Whatever, OMG, bae… groovy?
Lose the slang when talking to an interviewer. You want to come across as
polished and professional, and you don’t want them to have to dig out their
urban dictionary to understand you.Sure, cool, kinda…
These kinds of words are just too casual, even in a casual workplace. You
should be presenting the best version of yourself, not the sloppy, casual
version.We
This one seems innocuous at first, but if you use it a lot when discussing job
duties and accomplishments, the interviewer might start to wonder if it was you
or your team that was responsible. Try to use “I” as much as
possible.Dedicated, motivated, team player…
Lose the resume speech and jargon. Besides the fact that these words are
incredibly overused in interview situations, they’re also better demonstrated
than just stated. If you want to convey your dedication or motivation, share an
example from your past work experience; examples will go much further to making
your claims believable.Leverage, synergy, ideation…
I’d avoid using too much business jargon. The chances that you’ll come off
sounding like an idiot are just too high. Too much business buzzwords or jargon
tends to make people sound pretentious, or worse, downright stupid.”Hit the ground running,” “Circle back…”
These kinds of cliches have little to no meaning, they’re just verbal fluff,
and they don’t add anything to what you’re saying. So leave them out.Hate
I can’t think of a single instance when saying you “hate” something
in a job interview is appropriate, but it’s exceptionally inappropriate to say
anything about hating your former job, co-workers, boss, etc.
Perfectionist
It’s become almost a cliche in and of itself to answer a question like,
“What’s your biggest flaw?” with a positive flaw like, “I’m a
perfectionist.” Any good interviewer will see right through that, so just
don’t do it.When &
How Can I Legally Fire My Employee?In a time when employment lawsuits are prevalent (with
juries usually finding in favor of the employee), it is best to be as careful
as possible before terminating an employee.As a manager or HR professional, you
should take all the necessary precautions to protect your company or employer.
What are the right circumstances that are allowable to take action?Make sure you have all you bases covered. Take a look at the
main reasons an employee should be terminated and the ways to back up each of
those reasons:Incompetence. The
employee has not been able to fulfill the duties of their job. They cannot meet
the goals you have given them and those goals are within reason to meet. There
may be several reasons for this failure to meet goals, so be sure to
consistently track them and document everything you can. Make sure to give
warnings that the employee signs to acknowledge that they are not meeting goals
successfully.Harassment of other
employees. Not only is this the law but usually against company policies as
well so you will have this going for you. If your employee is harassing another
person, discrimination against another in a way that damages the other person’s
job or goes against the confidentiality of the company then you will have very
solid grounds to terminate. Again, make sure to document everythingAbandoning the job.
If the employee does not show up for three days straight without any warning,
that is considered job abandonment and you have grounds for dismissal. If it is
not as easy as that, you should have an employee absenteeism policy in place to
fall back on.Putting safety at
risk. This includes others as well as themselves. If you have a violent
employee, you need to make sure you carefully terminate them for the safety of
other employees as well as yourself. There are warning signs that you can look
for if you think that an employee may become violent. There are some measures
you can take to document and take action if you have a violent employee.Drugs and alcohol.
There are so many different scenarios that can happen if your employee is
caught doing drugs or drinking alcohol on the job — and it is up to your
discretion how to handle it based on the level of abuse of those substances or
how they are affecting the company.Theft. This could
be theft of property, confidential information, or trade secrets. Make sure you
have proof if you accuse an employee of theft. Take every measure to document
the theft depending on what it is. It may be as easy as catching them on
camera, but sometimes it is a theft that is much more discrete and complex,
such as embezzling money or copying documents from the company. You should take
every precaution to protect your organization.
Are you prepared to legally fire your employee? If not, make
sure you get to that point before taking action.