WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TEACH YOUR CAT TO BARK. "People are not your greatest asset."

Try reading your competitors employees’ Linkedin profiles. Ask yourself, why did they hire each person for the role? Why did they hire a bookkeeper who was assistant chef in a catering kitchen? Why did they hire a sales person who was a construction foreman? Why did they hired a new GM who used to ride a unicycle with Cirque de Soleil? Oh, wait, that’s our GM. This is such a fun game there’s even a book entitled “Why stupid people get hired and not fired.” People are not always hired for the right reasons. What you’re seeing is managers hoping to teach cats to bark. Instead of terminating the exercise and hiring a dog for the job, they continue to hold out hope that one day their cat will embrace barking. The saying tells us, “you could teach your cat to bark, but it’s much easier to get a dog.” If you want to convince your cat to bark, here’s what’s wrong with the idea.

1. Cat’s don’t have a great bark. Nobody pays attention, burglars ignore barking cats, strangers take videos of a barking cat and post it to youtube. Barking cats are not protection, they’re just odd.

2. You annoy the cat. Forcing cats to bark just makes them angry. Many of them will leave home if you keep pushing them.

3. Putting a cat on the barking job takes up considerable management time. Cats forget to bark, delay, avoid, or disappear. In situations that need a bark, your cat can’t be found. If you don’t push your cat to bark, it won’t get done.

4. Performance coaching doesn’t work. You might teach it to bark, but as soon as you leave, the cat will forget everything you taught it. Barking is not in it’s nature.

The same is true for employees. Jim Collins, (Good to Great), said, “People are not your greatest asset. The right people are.” In a barking role, a cat is never your greatest asset. In the same role, a dog can be your greatest asset.

Everybody is great at something, but they’re never great in the wrong role. Most of our management problems are caused by reluctant cats doing the dog’s job.

Here are five things to check for before hiring. Rate your candidate, how did they score on each item?

1. Interview, behavioural. What do you think?

2. Reference check, (history of doing the work)

3. Experience, skills, education, (can do the work)

4. Psychometric testing, (will do the work)

5. Culture, work family fit, (the workplace likes the candidate)

If you hire the right people, they will be your greatest asset!

Thank you

Wolf

Partner

Metrik Management Inc.

Executive Management Consulting