HR teams can design systems and metrics all day long. That’s valuable, but even more valuable is what happens when HR can focus on attitude, culture and fit.
By Lisa Trumbull
As Canada’s five-generation workforce continues to evolve, companies are looking to HR to carry more weight for the organisation. Scorecards, metrics and data reporting is one thing, but firms want to get more of the intangibles that truly level up performance out of the work of their HR function. Increasingly, the way HR teams can deliver on this demand is by focusing on attitude, culture and fit as they look to hire new team members.
Hiring for attitude and training for skills is not a new concept. It is, however, an undeniable investment in people that firms have at times attempted to minimize. This is no longer realistic since the current gaps in skill sets throughout the workforce mean investing in team training is inevitable, though the form and pace may be negotiable.
Within that framework, firms looking for true “alpha” returns on their investment need to be sure true cultural fit has been uncovered in advance.
Why Attitude Matters so Much in 2018 and Beyond
Attitude has long been a factor in hiring and long-term success for workers and their parent organisations. What has changed leading up to the present is the degree to which this “soft skill” continues to help organisations stand apart from each other in a globally crowded space where technology can act as a great equalizer in competitive fields.
Take the hospitality industry, for example. Nearly all hotel chains of size offer the same features. Everyone has online reservation systems, the room amenities are often ubiquitous, and busy travellers can sometimes forget which chain hotel has their room for the night.
Unless, of course, they are staying at hotel like Canada’s Four Seasons. At Four Seasons, each employee is selected for their dispositional and cultural fit for the organisation, giving guests a globally reliable and responsive, high-touch service experience only partly explained by the 90 days of staff training. The resulting high rank by business travellers has allowed the hotel chain to compete with much larger hotel firms and become a property of choice.
Internally, the company also benefits. Four Seasons has been a Forbes “Employer of Choice” for nearly two decades running, with corresponding low turnover rates and competitive recruitment scenario. The HR department can thus continue to deliver above-average employees at below-average costs by caring for the culture, giving Four Seasons an ongoing advantage in every way.
This is an outcome any firm would love to have, and the reason attitude is not just important in 2018 … it’s critical for long-term survival.
Shifting from Metrics to Soft Skills
Naturally, shifting toward an attitude-based HR function is easier said than done. This does not mean that it is impossible, and by making the move from hard numbers back toward soft skills, HR teams can deliver more of the critical talent their organisations need.
In some ways, this is a throwback role for HR teams, who have long been seen as champions of culture even when their workloads seemed to revolve around pivot tables and org charts. So past is present all over again, but now with better tools. Plus, having seen the limits of what some of the assistive technology can offer, business leaders are more willing to listen as HR partners provide guidance around finding, hiring and rewarding the right kinds of attitudes.
This often means defining exactly which attitudes are most vital for a given firm. At companies like Four Seasons, autonomy, flexibility and creativity are most highly prized, while other firms might value boldness, kindness or resiliency. The more defined a firm can be in what it needs, both for the present and for future growth goals, the better the HR function will be able to deliver that vital “edge” over the competition only found within the right types of hires.
Where to Start Implementing Attitude-Based HR Improvements
There are three main places where companies can start when it comes to implementing attitude-based HR improvements. They are adding attitude measurements into the recruitment process, building cultural fit elements into the interview and onboarding process, and providing frontline managers with clear guidelines around how newly hired staff are to be trained.
According to human capital researchers i4cp, one of the 10 best ways that HR teams can build creativity and innovation is by including cultural fit measures in their recruiting protocols. Adding this as a key competency ensures that “fit” for the organisation is not overlooked during the recruitment process. This is especially critical when firms are hiring out of undergraduate and graduate programmes, where clear evidence of work skills may be limited by shorter employment histories.
Building fit metrics into employee scorecards also helps talent management teams. When interviewing, onboarding, and developing talent, having a reference measure ensures that attitude and fit are not overlooked. It can also help facilitate the right kinds of discussions around whether current hiring and training processes are really delivering an optimal talent mix.
Finally, by looping in frontline managers to the new priority, HR managers can provide new hires with an understanding atmosphere while they upskill into the organisation. Both sides will know why a particular team member was brought on board, even in the absence of specific technical prowess, and what needs to be done to make the hire work.
As these three processes are implemented, companies should see the resulting increases in customer satisfaction, retention and performance. It is a departure from strict scorecards and basic processes for HR teams, but by pushing HR to focus on attitude, both firms and workers will see the best results in 2018 and beyond.