Seven Steps to Hiring--and Retaining--the Right Person

1. Be clear about success for this role. The job description should include people with whom the employee will be involved; the role’s major areas of accountability; performance metrics; working conditions and other unique requirements.
    
2. Match “carrots” to business objectives. Insurance company pay scales and bonuses are often too inflexible to reward performance. Managers must understand what their team members like to do, and the work they enjoy. In short, the work must support both company and employee.
    
3. Develop an interviewing strategy. Your inside hiring group should have its own process. Who on the current team should have a say in the new hire? Who might be able to share more deeply about role requirements and the culture? Assign the right people to be involved and then capture their feedback. Create guidelines for collecting feedback so the post-interview meeting does not devolve into decisions based merely on “like” or “dislike.”
    
4. Know what behaviors will succeed in the role. Consider the behavioral style this job requires. Assess the candidate's ability to manage problems and challenges; how they interact with people; handle a steady pace and work environment; and deal with rules and procedures set by others. 
    
5. Fit candidate motivators to company motivators. Is your workplace culture relaxed, social and highly collaborative? Or do people work independently, driven by fast turnaround and a competitive pace? How do client and customer relations shape the workplace culture? What are the spoken and unspoken values that define your company and how you want to be in the marketplace? Communicate this to potential candidates and be sure their values align with yours.
    
6. Ask questions that provoke revealing answers. Analyze the job and critically evaluate the major areas of accountability. How will you measure performance, critical success factors, and other criteria essential for this position. Ask the same or similar questions of every candidate. Ask why the person succeeded or didn’t in past roles. Ask how they specifically dealt with an issue in their past. 
    
7. Establish ongoing feedback and communication checkpoints. What is the employee doing well? What do they need to correct? Be clear about what you observe and what they need to do differently. Keep the dialogue open and ongoing.

Flaxington notes that an underperforming employee is a liability and that managers must be proactive in getting the most out of every member of the team. “Sometimes managers in insurance companies can take the view that with so many employees, one bad hire isn’t that bad--or they can deal with one unmotivated or ill-fit employee. Each employee who isn’t working to their capacity, and given a chance to succeed to their highest levels of ability, is stealing from the company, from the customers and from themselves. Managers have a duty to make sure employees are given all the tools they need, and are able to succeed.”

The people you surround yourself with reflect on you as a manager. Make sure you have the right people on your team and that you motivate them to succeed. 

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