"What are we going to do now?" Kevin said to his National Sales Manager. Emma was our best regional manager and now she has left. "I don't know" Julie replied "the rest of the team just aren't ready to step up." "How did we end up in this situation?" Kevin sighed.

One in two new hires fail within 18 months! Why? I am going to point the finger and say -- employees fail because of their leader! One study showed 82% of the hiring managers, in hindsight, saw some red flags during the hiring process and failed to respond to them.

The study by Leadership IQ on reasons why employees fail, looked at more than 5200 new hires. Of those new hires, 46% failed in the first 18 months. Here are the reasons why new hires failed:

1. 26% of all new hires fail because they aren't coachable.
2. 23% of all new hires fail because of their emotional intelligence levels.
3. 17% of all new hires fail because of their motivation levels.
4. 15% of all new hires fail because of their temperament.
5. 11% of all new hires fail because of technical competence levels.

Here's the most frightening fact from the study. 82% of the hiring managers in the study, in hindsight, saw some red flags during the hiring process and failed to respond to them.

Why did 82% of the hiring managers fail to act on the red flags they saw? Look again at the reasons the new employees "failed". Being coachable, emotional intelligence, motivation, temperament, technical skills. Do you check on all these things in the hiring process?> I would suggest that most managers do cover these areas, but it is what they do, or more importantly DON'T do, when they see a red flag.

So why don't we, as managers, respond to the red flags during the hiring process? The most common reason is time! "We need some one quickly and it takes a lot of time to recruit people."

How much time does it waste when you recruit the wrong people?

Or worse, in my opinion, you recruit really nice, average performers. You get emotionally connected to them, but you are condemning your team to mediocre performance.

This is what happened to Kevin and Julie. The recent restructures had increased their workload. The job applicants over the last 18 months were solid, without being outstanding. They felt they just didn't have the time to start all over again. Now they have several average performers. "They really are nice people" Kevin said to Julie.

In his research and book Good to Great, Jim Collins found that the FIRST step for the leaders of these companies was to get the right people. His phrase is "get the right people on the bus, in the right seats and the wrong people off the bus."

Most of these hiring failures are preventable. To make sure you hire the right person, first get clear about the outcome you want. Do you want to hire the best person or do you want the hiring process to be quick and easy!!

I have also found the "speed hump" conversation is very effective. I read about this concept in an article from Ryan Sarti. It is a simple process; it only takes about 6 minutes.

What is the "speed hump" conversation?

In the interview you talk to the candidate about "speed humps". There are two parts to the conversation. It could go something like this. "Everyone and I mean everyone, hits a speed bump once in a while. Not that we want that to happen, but, since we are all human, it happens." Tell me about a speed hump -- something you were responsible for that did not go well. How did you handle it and how did you bounce back?

If the candidate gets past that then you go on to the second part. You ask "when you hit that speed bump working here, how do you want me to handle it? What do you want me to say? How do you want me to say it?"

As the potential employee talks about how to handle this situation, TAKE NOTES so you can recount their comments, verbatim. If the speed bump conversation shows the employee is open to coaching and has good EI (Emotional Intelligence), they have now given you permission to address the issues. More importantly, they've given you some tips on how best to handle the situation.

Their response will also tell you if they are not comfortable addressing speed hump issues.

So save time by investing time. Take note of the red flags in the hiring process, have the "speed-hump" conversation and hire ONLY when you are sure you have the right person for the specific seat on your bus.

Related Articles:

Time Management at Work.

Time Management Principles

Links you should visit

1) Guy Kawasaki explains the art of innovation. .

2) Time Management Central.net time management videos to inspire you to use your time wisely.