It Won’t!
And here is why:
Just because you double your workforce doesn’t mean you double your productivity. As bestselling author Jim Collins concluded in his book ‘GOOD to GREAT’ (why some companies make the leap and others don’t)…
“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”
There is little benefit in having two hundred people operating at 40% efficiency when you can have one hundred people operating at 80% efficiency. Adding more people also means increased costs, in terms of recruitment, training and management overheads.
The key to higher profit margins, is having a high performing workforce.
So, How do you Develop a High Performing Workforce?
There is a gap between what the research reveals and what organisations are actually doing. It turns out following your passion really does deliver R.O.I.
Peer reviewed research, published in leading business psychology journals (Dr Shubhakr Gujula, Prof. Beena Chintalapuri*) proves a direct correlation between the level of enjoyment in the task of the job and the results employees achieve for the organisation.
Thirty years of research by Dr.Dan Harrison, demonstrates that employees who are congruent with their jobs and enjoy at least 75% of the tasks of the job, perform three times better than employees who don’t enjoy their job.
Example:
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Assuming a supportive environment and competent leadership an average performing sales person in a company generates €100,000 a year in sales for the company. By contrast a high performing sales person with high competence and high levels of enjoyment in the job, studies show will perform three times better, with the potential to contribute up to €300,000 to the bottom line. |
The key to high performing employees is to have high levels of competency and congruency between the natural passion of the employee and the tasks of the job. This is a critical driver for increased employee engagement and high performance.
How to Develop Your Employees for High Performance?
Because it can take between six to twelve months for the organisation to determine if an employee is an “A” player.
It is critical to conduct an audit from the outset as to whether or not a potential new employee has the DNA to become a high performer in your organisational culture.
The latest advances in behavioural science enable an employer to establish (before making a hiring decision) whether or not an employee has the DNA of a high performer.
This empowers the organisation to match the right people to the right jobs with a high degree of accuracy. Validity studies by organisations who have used this methodology, show correlation coefficient of up to 0.7 (high predictive power). The methodology is called Performance Benchmarking.
Performance Benchmarking
Performance Benchmarking provides a quantitative evaluation that differentiate high performers from average and low performers for a specific job.
The method uses A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to formulate and measure critical behavioural traits for a job and show the impact they have on performance.
Example:
The example below highlights the critical success factors necessary for a Sales Manager in a Global Organisation.
A benchmark study was carried out to establish the essential traits for successful Sales Managers in a global organisation. The study found that sales managers with the following traits were consistently high performing:
| · Authoritve Collaboration.
· Frank. · Numerical. · Wants Autonomy. · Intuitive. · Forthright Diplomacy. · Analytical. · Collaborative. · Precise. · Tolerance of Structure.
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Essential traits – These traits are considered “essential” in the Job and are given a rating according to the level of correlation to performance rating.
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When choosing which candidates from a selection process to take forward from a shortlist of five potential job candidates (Candidate A, B, C, D, E). The hiring manager then compares the shortlisted candidates to the organisations benchmark for high performance in a Sales Manager Role.
Candidate A Scores:
The above diagram shows the distribution score of a candidate who applied for the job.
This particular candidate has a strong alignment with the essential traits for a sales manager in this organisation.
In conclusion, the benefits include:
- Benchmarking matches critical job success factors with actual job performance, resulting in a highly scientific, objective and measurable outcome (up to 80% ability to predict success in a job).
- For internal ‘grow your own’ programmes the method provides data to improve job performance, by highlighting ‘performance gaps’ which determine where improvement is needed, managers can introduce laser-focused interventions which support employee development.
The result: Better selection and targeted development that leads to higher performing employees.
For further information on how people analytics can help you develop high performing employees, contact us here: sharon.miller@human-bydesign.com.
