3 Keys to Creating an Exceptional Organization

Exceptional organizations are created by exceptional people. But it’s not as simple as “finding” the right people to run your car wash. Experts in management agree there are three key areas to focus on: hiring, training and management. Excelling in these areas will result in optimum productivity and retention of good employees.

Hire right, train right, and manage right. Simple, right? Well, not exactly. Carrying out these goals on a day-to-day basis is the most difficult task that any organization faces.

Hire Right

In our experience, hiring right is the most important part of the process toward developing an exceptional organization. How many times have you had a high performer in a position and you thought, “I sure which I could clone that person!” If you examine closely, you’ll likely find that the reason this manager or employee shines is a close alignment between the person’s natural abilities and the scope of the job.

So the question is, how do you find people who are a good match for an open position? It may be easier than you think, using a reliable survey instrument like PDP Proscan®. When administered to job candidates, this brief yet accurate survey produces an in-depth report highlighting an individual’s strengths, patterns of behavior and motivations. This can be compared to the job model, which should be created in advance and list traits that would make a person a “match” for the job.

A few years back, Brink Results President Steve Gaudreau conducted a survey of 103 carwash managers from 24 organizations throughout the U.S. He found Proscan® could identify a pattern of behavior for high performers by measuring the cornerstone traits of dominance, extroversion, pace and conformity, along with evaluating a person’s logic, energy level, communication and leadership style.

Train Right

Even with the best hiring practices, you will end up with some people who are not a perfect fit for their jobs. This doesn’t mean they cannot become exceptional employees. A somewhat surprising finding of Gaudreau’s research was that 24 percent of the conveyor carwash managers identified as “exceptional” were not perfect matches with the typical pattern for high performers.

This can be largely attributed to a good development program. Often, managers are promoted from within and must be trained in management skills so they can improve in areas which aren’t “natural” for them.

Several studies show that employee training is one of the highest return-on-investment (ROI) strategies a company can implement. Exceptional managers know that if someone gets started correctly, they will need much less corrective feedback later.

Manage Right

If you have hired right and trained right, it will be much easier to “manage right.” The PDP Proscan® tool can also be used in the area of people management. It can provide insights to help managers understand what motivates each individual on their team.

Everybody is different. For instance, some people are motivated by encouragement (“I know you can do this!”) while others are motivated by challenge (“Do you think you can get this done?”). Some people value stability, while others are motivated by unpredictability. Exceptional managers understand they need to treat people as the individuals that they are.

This sets in motion a positive chain of events: Better morale leads to higher performance, which in turn, creates a more positive environment for customers. Good people stay, and customers come back more often. These are the evidences of an exceptionally managed organization.

Could your organization use a hand in learning to hire right, train right, and manage right? Contact Brink Results by calling (239) 334-1050 or email: info@BrinkResults.com to schedule a free consultation.