You can't teach a pig to sing……………

There's an old saying (I first heard it from master trainer and author Danny Cox: )

You can't teach a pig to sing --- it wastes your time and irritates the pig.

When evaluating employees keep in mind that there are really only three important factors:

1. Aptitude;
2. Skills;
3. Motivation.

Everything else is superfluous to these three elements.

The first factor is aptitude. This is where your pre employment screening is important. Some people are great teachers and lousy salesmen or marketers. Others may be great in the back room with the books – but for heaven sakes don't make them talk to real people.

Define the aptitudes necessary for the job function and screen accordingly. Also, if after some period of time you decide that the person just won't be able to “get it” then the thing you can do that is best for them is to decide quickly and help them transition to a more effective career.

The second factor is skills. This is your most important area of focus. You must train every new staff member on each area that they will be responsible for controlling. And, I'm not talking a broad description and a two page job description.

Train on every detail. In nauseating depth. Role play. Video tape and audio tape performance. Keep records. Give feedback. Tune and tweak performance. Then 90 days later start over. Continue this cycle – forever.

Some managers hate to spend this much time or a lot of money because they are afraid that people will leave and that effort and money will go to waste. I heard it expressed this way once:

“What's worse – a trained employee who leaves or an untrained one who stays?”

The final factor is motivation. It is certainly possible for someone to have the aptitude and the skills and to not have the interest. Without self motivation any employee is pretty much worthless.

Now here's a radical concept as well:

Everyone brings their own level of motivation to the job.

Just about everyone is highly motivated to do well when they start.

Your best result is to do anything you can to stay out of their way and not screw that up!

ow clearly there are was to enhance this personal motivation. Recognition is great. Money doesn't hurt. Incentives based upon performance is a prerequisite but in general I really believe that people arrive with motivation – then often we screw that up with silly rules, an unpleasant environment, unfair behavior, or through just minimizing the employee's contribution overall.