Get More Done With Less - The Right Employee Makes All the Difference

Face it, today we have to get more done with less. The recession has limited many organizations' spending and the most significant reduction has affected manpower and headcount. Over the past 9 months, several million employees have lost their roles - victims of our challenging financial times. With fewer employees remaining in virtually every business, these employees must now not only do their work, but also the work of others. Though some at the moment may feel appreciative for the work, today's workers must now shoulder a more significant workload. Having the right employee in the right role is key to getting more done with less; the right employee makes all the difference.

Today's intellectual workplace requires greater employee thinking as part of daily performance. Since all roles require very specific thinking, and not all people think the same way, not every person is a good fit for every role. Studies show employees who are a good fit for a role (the "right" employee) are those who are good at what they do and passionate about doing it; these employees are more engaged, fired up and consistently outperform all others. If an organization must have fewer employees, then those who remain must be the right ones. Having the right employees as surviving employees allows for a smaller and higher performing workforce. This will be key in surviving today's recession - right people, right roles, less expense.

To help your employees get more done with less, start first by assessing whether the right employees are in the right roles. Proper employee alignment is management's responsibility and requires that management clearly create (what I call) a "Talent Matrix" for each role. The Talent Matrix identifies the critical performance talents needed to do the role well (they know how to do the role and are passionate about doing it), the team talents needed (for employees to fit into the organization's culture), and the skills and experience that will help the employee be successful in daily performance. These attributes allow for a thoughtful and bias-free process to assess whether employees are in the right roles. The better matched employees are to roles that use their talents, values and interests, the greater their performance. Using the Talent Matrix creates an effective process to determine who will be part of the core team that remains, and who will be laid off. This removes much of the emotional component of the layoff, and redirects the attention on performance, impact and results.

After first assessing and realigning existing employees to better roles, you may still see that critical roles in the organization are not staffed by the right people and the right people are not currently part of your workforce. This means that you must find your critical talent outside of your organization. Today, while others are firing, you could be hiring. There is no mandate that in tough economic times, you only lay off. With an increased supply of talented unemployed workers, now may be the time for you to bring in new employees who will be more capable than your existing employees in particular roles. Again, one right employee will significantly outperform several of the wrong employees. Not only will performance increase, but critical payroll costs will decrease. It is important to get more done with less so having the right employee who may need to be brought in from outside of the organization may be the right response.

Many people (some famous, some not) have recently said, "never waste a good crisis." Tough economic times challenge us to be more clever, creative and to know the performance abilities of our teams. It is up to us to ensure we have the right people in the right roles, even if we have to go outside of the organization to find them. It has forced us to look for the very best employee for each role, to hold each employee more accountable for results and to spend wisely regardless of the times. It has forces us to be more involved in the process of hiring the right employee and realigning employees based on their talents and contribution.

Having the right employees (those who are good at what they do and are passionate about doing it) is the key to all great performance. These employees have to get the job done, and done well. Our customers depend on it. Our vendors rely on it. If they are connected and engaged, they will perform. If they are miscast, disengaged and disinterested, performance fails.

Today, we must get more done with less. The right employees are ready for the challenge. Hire or realign employees into roles that they are good at and are passionate about and they will perform. They will be your core workers. They will help you weather this financial storm. They will help you to be ready for whatever else comes your way. Not every employee is the right employee. You'll know you have the right employee because this employee will make all the difference.

Jay Forte, a former financial executive and educator, now performance consultant, speaker and author, is a nationally ranked Thought Leader and President of Humanetrics. Jay teaches organizations how to ignite passionate performance in managers, employees and individuals using his MaxImpact Core approach. He has helped many organizations and individuals become more performance-focused by learning how to connect to organizations of all sizes, become more performance-driven and financially successful.

As an expert in guiding and activating performance, he is regularly interviewed by national publications and as a guest on business radio programs. His many articles have been nationally and internationally published. He is the author of the new book, "Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition; How to Invite, Incite and Ignite Employee Performance", an innovative, practical, hands-on manager guide to activate exceptional employee performance. His new program, "Stand Out and Get Hired" is due out shortly and is an interactive program that helps job seekers assess their talents, link to careers that support their talents (to create greater employment opportunities) and learn how to create the new and powerful talent-based resume that gets noticed and hired.

See his websites at http://www.HumanetricsLLC.com and http://www.FireUpYourEmployees.com He can be reached at jay.forte@humanetricsllc.com or at 401.338.3505.

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