I Can't Find Enough Good People

(originally written for The Accountability Blog)

I hear this all the time, “We can’t afford to let anyone go because I can’t find enough good people.” So, in other words, there are people within the organization that still get to draw a paycheck even though they may not do a good job, they may not be nice, they may not take care of the customer, and they may not even get their job done. I’m thinking that I should get hired by 2 or 3 of those kinds of companies, show up every now and then and collect multiple paychecks. Just get hired and you have it made!

We’re willing to pay people for a subpar performance in one or more areas of responsibility because we have not built the kind of organization that attracts the best people. This is not the very best place to be.

You see, hardworking, high-performance people do not like to work with people who are not getting their job done and done well. If you want to attract high-performance people, you must create an environment where the low performers are allowed to go elsewhere. Friendly people do not like to work around self-absorbed narcissists. People who truly care about the community they live and work in do not want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with individuals who are only looking to get and never to give.

People connect on values. People build relationships with others who care about the same things. It does not mean that everyone needs to have the same opinions or see the same solutions to problems. It does mean that leadership has a responsibility to discover, define, and establish a set of values that defines the workplace culture. Then those leaders must hire people who live the values and get rid of those people who do not. Wash – rinse – repeat.

It is only when you take the stance of protecting those values, protecting your desired culture, that you will build an organization that is known as a great place to work. Then, you will retain the best people and attract the best people. You will be building an organization that is a destination employer. And, in the process, you will not have to say, “I can’t find enough good people.” Your competitors will!