Is your business similar to the talent questions in the NFL?
The biggest question surrounding the NFL draft each year is whether the highly talented players will become high performing employees on their teams throughout their careers. There is some probability in predicting their success, but at the end of the day is it just a guess? How about in your business?
The key to the future of most firms is the people they hire. Some businesses I see take the most available employee who will work on the lower end of the pay scale. Is that really who you are looking for?
What is your main criterion for evaluating your future employees?
Many of the tests put in place to evaluate NFL players have not panned out.
For instance, all NFL draft prospects are given the Wonderlic Test which is an IQ-type test used to measure the players’ aptitude for learning and problem solving. The possible score range is 1 to 50 (with 50 being perfect). But does it really predict whether they will be a great football player? When looking at just quarterbacks, Russell Wilson scored a 24, Terry Bradshaw a 16 (he won 4 Super Bowls), while Tony Romo scored a 37.
In the financial services industry, a firm is ultimately measured by clients served and acquisition of new clients. So, if the goal is to attract and serve clients (with assets under management), relationship skills more than anything else are required.
If you are interested in hiring socially intelligent staff, here are two social intelligence assessments that may be helpful in evaluating great potential employees: Harvard-Developed Social Intelligence Test (simple, free, and takes 15 minutes) and FIRO-B (designed to be an assessment for future coaching of employees).
Another option comes from a superstar in evaluating talent for teams – Fran Skinner with www.aumpartnersllc.com . The tool that her firm uses has incredible results in assessing leadership, culture, engagement, communication, job fit (incumbents and job candidates) and succession planning. I’ve seen its power first hand.
Every day is draft day in business because in order to get ahead we have to have good employees. To win – however we define that in business – we need to have great, high performing employees. You and your clients deserve the best. It may be time to change the hiring process.