161: Cindi Filer of Innovative Outsourcing
Subscribe:
Welcome to Executive Minds! This week, David Farmer sits down with Cindi Filer, the President and Founder of Innovative Outsourcing. Innovate Outsourcing is a unique staffing
company dedicated to connecting businesses with experienced professionals seeking part-time employment. Cindi has two passions: to help small business owners navigate a tricky economy and to help people find employment that allows them to do what they love while maintaining family/life balance.
Links + Resources
Marcus Buckingham StrengthsFinder
Three Takeaways:
All of the Best Companies Have The Best Managers
Whether it’s a big or small organization, the single most attractive commonality among the best companies has been great managers. The ability to hire and retain top talent hinges upon having great management. And what do the best managers do? They give people attention, not simply feedback. Studies show that employee engagement dramatically increases when managers focus on the development of the individual. How do you speak to employees? How are they being encouraged? Are they being prepared to progress in their career? A manager’s responsibility is to successfully steward people to success. If you focus on the development of the individual, then you get the productivity.
As Managers, Your Employees Fall Into 3 Lists
As managers, your workforce falls into 3 lists. In List A, there are your top employees that you’d be devastated to lose. In List C, there are the bottom employees that you’d be relieved to see them transition out of the company. The bulk of your people can be found in List B. Here are good employees that do what they’re supposed to do. Top employees should have individual retention plans in place to make sure you’re figuring out how to keep them engaged and happy. Your bottom employees should be undergoing training in order to move into List B or be moving out of the company. You can’t tolerate a low bar, because people internally and externally can see that and it’s a drag on the culture overall.
Who Do You Want on Your Team?
In Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Ideal Team Player, he breaks down desirable people into 3 groups: hungry, humble and smart. The hungry are those non-complacent people that want a challenge and are looking to better themselves. These people are self-starters always looking to improve themselves and the culture around them. The humble are those that put the team first. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t confident. But rather, they are focused on the greater goal and not making everything a career move. And finally, the smart know themselves and therefore can lead themselves. Not to be mistaken with intelligence, these people possess EQ (emotional quotient) and have the relational capacity to make things happen. These days, 80% of people are getting or losing jobs based upon their EQ and not a skillset.