07 Dec How to replicate your great employees

Posted at 15:12h in Harrison Assessment Training by
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You know the problem – you have a great employee and think that if only you had more of the same people, how successful your business could be.

Taking their DNA and cloning them has ethical and time limitations so let’s look at other alternatives and let me share my story.

Why great employees are important to my business

Catherine has worked with me in my business for almost 12 years. She is reliable, has great attention detail, provides excellent customer service, remains calm when under pressure and manages the business exceptionally well when I am absent.

I hope you know that type of person well and have at least one in your business. So, for the purpose of this article let’s call them our “Caths”. Repeatedly I encounter business owners espousing their Caths and how successful their business would be if only they could replicate great employees.

How to find great employees

First, you need to look at the key traits which differentiate ordinary and extraordinary employees. In my opinion, great employees are:

  • Enthusiastic
  • Rise to a challenge
  • Show initiative
  • Work systematically
  • Precise
  • Work at a good pace
  • Enjoy customer contact

Depending on the job and work environment, your Caths have similar or other attributes.

  • Leadership and management positions require additional attributes including:
  • Influencing
  • Collaboration
  • Planning
  • Interest in business/Finance (business acumen)

When you determine those key attributes, you can look for them during your recruitment and selection processes. Traditionally, those traits were discovered during an interview and often missed by unskilled interviewers.

Today, using analytical tools like Harrison Assessments, you can develop a trait formula and, using an online questionnaire, determine whether a candidate has similar Cath behaviours, personality and work preferences. This can all be done before you offer a candidate an interview and explore potential mis-matches during the interview and reference-checking process.

Finding the right mix of motivation and traits is not impossible – it’s similar to identifying a successful recipe and replicating a product.

If you need help finding your next Cath, contact me and I’ll help you bring science to the art of finding the best employees.

About the author

Rowen Gransden is the Managing Partner Harrison Assessments, Smart Advantage HR consultants and Recruit Smart Adelaide. He has more than 30 years HR experience advising business owners, HR Directors and General Managers. Rowen is passionate about helping business solve their people problems.