Take one minute to write your answers to these two questions - What is the greatest asset of any organization?  What is the greatest liability of any organization?

Most will answer “people” to the first question and a variety of answers from operational failures to poor customer service and everything in between for the greatest liability of any organization.

Let me first say “people” are not your greatest asset!  The RIGHT people are!  And the greatest liability to any organization are the WRONG people in your organization.  Hiring and or tolerating the wrong people can do immeasurable damage to an organization.

In Monday Morning Leadership Interactive, it discusses that we can never lower the bar in hiring the best people.  If we choose to settle for less than the best, then we are setting ourselves up for difficult situations and discussions in the future.

To that end, how effective is your hiring process and does it consistently deliver the most qualified, best “fit” employees?  Do your interview questions get to the real essence of the person you are interviewing? For example, is one of your interview questions, “Please describe the culture at the last 2 organizations you have worked for." And then ask, “What culture do you feel best fits you and allows you to perform at your best”? 

These two questions are rarely asked but when answered by a candidate can reveal a lot about what motivates that individual, as well as if can they thrive at your organization.

Begin to hire tough today so you can manage easy, because if you hire easy, trust me, at some point you will be forced to manage tough!  

The choice is yours!