How is Your Organization Handling Change? 

 Over the past few months we have had many conversations with clients and colleagues regarding the impact of the economic challenges and its effect on their organizations. All aspects of organizational performance have been challenged - from the way projects are managed to human capital alignment. Some organizations are searching for solutions and struggle to find answers while others are actively engaging in what they hope will be successful strategic initiatives as they cope with change in today's business environment.

What makes one organization successful over another? In most cases, it is the organization whose workforce has rallied behind their leadership and is willing to actively and enthusiastically support decisions and strategies moving forward. Consider the following perspective adapted from "The Employee Handbook for Organizational Change" (Pritchett & Pound, 2009).

Nothing is gained by continuing to second-guess the approach that the organization is taking. Instead of arguing over whether it was the right decision, now that the decision has been made, it's everyone's job to make it right. The organization desperately needs each person's support. Major change efforts almost always destabilize an organization and temporarily make it more vulnerable. The entire work force needs to rally, close ranks and defend the organization that provides their paycheck on a regular basis. Everybody loses if people keep questioning the wisdom of the strategy and the organization begins to splinter. What's done is done. The job now is to make it a successful strategy.

How's your organization coping?  Is a Change Management intiative in order?

 A Bad Hire Can Affect Business

As companies slowly begin recovering from the economic challenges of 2010, recruitment is gaining in importance. When the decision is made to begin the hiring process, proceed with caution. With unemployment hovering around 9.4 percent, the job market is flooded with potential candidates. Yet even with all the talent available, time pressures, strained resources and a lack of insight into behavioral-based and situation-based interviewing methods are obstacles to employers finding the best qualified people for their open positions.

 Two-in-three companies report that a bad hire has adversely affected their business operations in the last year. Poor hires can be costly too, as nearly one-in-four hiring managers said at least one bad hire cost their business more than $50,000 in the last year.  Taking into account all related aspects of recruiting and assimilating a new employee into the organization, the cost can easily be 150% of the first year's annual salary of the individual eventually selected; a heavy cost burden if you hire the wrong candidate.  Of employers who say they made a bad hire, 36 percent said they think they made a mistake hiring someone because they needed to fill the job quickly, followed by lack of understanding of where their target talent is (20 percent) and unsuccessful sourcing techniques (9 percent).

To improve successful hiring results, hiring managers must have current, accurate and detailed job descriptions for the open position and a firm understanding of the corporate culture; keeping that corporate culture in clear focus during the interviewing process. Throughout the hiring process they must pay close attention to detail, resist the temptation to "hurry through the process" and link job performance requirements with candidates who meet those qualification and who "fit" within the organization.  The hiring manager must get beyond image and evaluate substance (capabilites, committment. and chemistry).  

Remember, many candidates have benefited from outplacement services and may indeed be better prepared for the interview than are many hiring managers.   Ensuring that your hiring managers are well trained on behavioral-based and situational-based interviewing techniques and that they adher to these guidelines can better protect and insulate the organization from a negative experience and the financial loss of a bad hire.

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The above statistics resulted from a nationwide survey  conducted online by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com between August 17 and September 2, 2010.