Calling John Beane at Staff Development Services was definitely taking a ‘leap of faith’. Although we had heard good things from other law firms about John’s services in helping identify good employees, you’re always thinking in the back of your mind that this is just another ‘personality’ test with okay results but is it really worth the effort and money.
But, we decided to give it a try—what did we have to lose? I called John and found out the services could be started immediately. He emailed me everything I needed to get started. It was necessary to read over the instructions a couple of times but, once I administered the survey, it was really very simple to do. That was about three years ago and I am definitely a fan of John’s services now.
Initially, I used the report to just help me do better at hiring people. I must admit that many times I hired a person because I liked them. And face it, it really doesn’t take much common sense for a potential hire to realize that they need to ‘put their best foot forward’ during an interview.
But, I quickly realized that this report gave me information about a person that I had never been privy to before. We were lucky if one out of three hires turned out to be successful before we began using the survey. And, although I don’t have any specifics, I know we are doing much better hiring the right people now, especially in case management which is the hardest area to staff.
Over time, I realized that the reports were more valuable that I had originally thought. We now use them for multiple purposes. They are good reference material to provide better training for new hires. No one is perfect and the report helps us determine a new employee’s weaknesses that we might need to pay special attention to. And, it allows us to be more insightful to the person’s needs during the training and orientation period.
For example, we hired a person to be a legal secretary. In the hiring re- port, it stated that she would not perform well if she had to answer to too many people but everything else was a ‘fit’ for the job. In our environment, she would be expected to report to a number of attorneys. But, we modified the job so that she just works with one or two attorneys. She is one of the best legal secretaries we have ever had.
If someone is being considered for a promotion, we go back to his or her hiring report. Often in the report it might say that a particular candidate could be utilized in other areas if needed in the future. By looking at the report, we can review the per- son’s strengths and weaknesses to help us determine whether they could succeed after being promoted.
Recently, we changed the flow of cases in our pre-lit department, and we used the survey to help do this. Instead of expecting case managers to do everything, we broke the job into components.
One component consists of handling the more routine, mundane tasks; more of the clerical type work. This frees up the case managers’ time to interact with the clients, adjusters, etc. and to manage the overall flow of the cases. To decide who should be assigned to which positions, we looked at surveys to determine who would fit each of these roles best.
Occasionally, there is a person who can ‘do it all’ but it is easier to find a person who can do just one of these roles well. It seems to me that the employees are happier because they are doing work that is comfortable for them to do. And, if for some reason one of these people does leave the firm, it is easier to replace them than trying to find that rare person who can ‘do it all’.
If possible, I am the one who administers the survey, because I realize the importance of doing it correctly and I know that I give the same instructions every time. When I get the report, I read every word carefully. I even highlight points that concern me or things that I want to remember. I never just read the summary. And, I feel that John and his firm has helped me to do my job much better and has helped to make our firm better. Like I said, “I’m a fan!”
(Note: Amy Key is the General Manager of Hughes and Cole- man in Bowling Green, KY with offices in Louisville, Lexington, and Nashville, TN)
On the Lighter Side
Those of you who conduct employee reviews may enjoy these ‘gems’ gleaned from a variety of sources. These are the type of employees we work hard to keep out of your firm.
- “Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.”
- “I would not allow this employee to breed.”
- “This associate is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definitely won’t be.”
- “Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.”
- “He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.”
- “This young lady has delusions of adequacy.”
- “He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.”
- “This employee should go far – and the sooner he starts, the better.”
- “This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.”
