Three Year Rule
As any Human Resource Manager can tell you, adding or replacing a key position within a company can often become a drawn out, and daunting task. Many employers look for that perfect employee who is Smart, Creative, and Adaptive to Change. They also want an employee who can grow within the company over a time span of the next Twenty Years. Twenty Years? Really?
With today’s mobile workforce, the days of the Twenty Year Employee have diminished from the landscape. Some of the factors contributing to this are the recent M&A Activity which often results in position elimination in the name of consolidation and those all important projected cost savings. When a firm treats employees like disposal commodities, how can business owners be surprised when employees look at their employers with the same short sighted view?
Many businesses in corporate America today have lost their heart when it comes to establishing a “Two Way Work Culture” within their organization. I define “Two Way Work Culture” as a culture where the employees do what is right for the company as if they were the business owners, and the employers manage the business as if they themselves were an employee. In a “Two Way Work Culture”, active two way communication will always be a prerequisite to good culture health. When you hear an employee ask: “Why I am I the last one to find out about this new change?” you have a communication problem which needs immediate attention.
So what to do, if you have a “Two Way Work Culture”, but you find that your business is outgrowing a valued employee’s skill set? If the business outgrows an employee’s knowledge or ability, that is not necessarily a signal that you have a bad employee. I maintain that there are no bad employees; there are simply companies where certain employees don’t fit the organization’s goals or objectives at that particular time in the businesses life cycle. Never create a position for an existing employee where the company has out grown their current skill sets. For example: if a company grows Revenues from $10MM to $100MM, the skill set required for the larger company will have changed in many key areas.
When filling a key position, you must “Define the Position”. You should create a box, fill it with key qualifications and requirements, and then find the employee who materially fills the requirements of the box. This technique will increase your odds of realizing a good hire (either internal or external) with some stickiness well beyond the three year mark.
Always remember: If you can objectively hire from within, you have a win.