By George Otte

Your organization deserves the very best employees it can find. Unfortunately, your competitors feel this way as well. As you compete with other organizations in your field to recruit and hire top-quality job candidates, it is important that you know how to recognize people with high potential and do your best to hire them before someone else does.

To understand what separates a good job candidate from a great one, you must understand what distinguishes good employees from excellent ones. The best hires tend to have these eight skills and strengths, regardless of industry or profession. Be sure to screen for them during the interview process.

1. Good Computer and Technology Skills

Your employees do not all need to be technical wizards. Outside of core information technology roles, it is unlikely that you expect your employees to be fluent in advanced programming languages or have more than a passing familiarity with computer engineering principles.

However, all new hires should have solid basic computer and technology skills. 

“They should be familiar with the hardware and software on which your organization runs and adept at basic device management and troubleshooting.” — George Otte

 Depending on their roles, you may even expect them to have basic computer programming skills.

2. A Willingness to Learn and Adopt New Technical Skills

Familiarity with technology is certainly important, but so is a willingness to learn and adopt new technical skills as the state of the art changes. You need to be confident that your team members’ productivity will not suffer due to a software update or device change, after all.

3. The Ability to Work Well on a Team

Teamwork is an essential employee skill, one that predates digital technology in the workplace and many of the other expectations discussed here. Look for job candidates that have demonstrated, through job references and work products, a clear ability to work well with other members of their team. If you are hiring for a management role, make sure that candidates have demonstrated an ability to support and get more out of subordinates. 

4. Strong Written Communication Skills

Strong written communication skills are important in any workplace environment that leverages email and workplace chat apps to get work done. Even if you do not expect the person you are hiring to produce long written reports or articles, you have every right to expect them to get their points across in writing.

5. Internal Self-Motivation and Time Management

You may have heard or even used the term “self-starter” in professional settings. Although not every role requires intense self-motivation, most are not designed for micromanagement. As such, look for employees that won’t need to be told what to do every day, and who know how to manage their time as they work toward goals and complete projects.

6. Introspectiveness and an Ability to Admit Mistakes

Good employees are capable of looking inside themselves and identifying areas for improvement. They can also admit mistakes when it makes sense for them to do so. Employees without these capabilities tend to create more problems than they solve over time.

7. Good Organizational Skills

You should expect every employee to possess basic organizational skills, whether they work in your office or remotely. Organized employees are much more likely to produce excellent work and remain on-deadline than those that struggle to keep track of their responsibilities.

8. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

All employees need to have strong problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities. Because it is unlikely that you are designing roles for micromanagement, you should expect employees to be able to identify and solve many problems on their own, even as you and your fellow managers make themselves available for support with more difficult issues that employees can’t address themselves.

Are you planning to hire new team members this year? What is the most important skill or strength you look for in a job candidate?

George Otte is a Miami-based entrepreneur and executive with more than 15 years of multifaceted business operations experience.

By George Otte

Is your company operating as efficiently and productively as possible?

Enhancing organizational efficiency and boosting employee productivity are worthwhile goals. With effective strategies and proper implementation, they are readily attainable.

There are many valid ways to improve the productive capacity of your workforce at every level of your organization. Let’s examine eight of the most effective strategies in greater detail.

1. Clearly Define Each Employee’s Role and Responsibilities

Make sure each of your employees knows precisely what is expected of him or her. The most efficient way to do this is to define, in writing, each employee’s formal responsibilities within his or her role. This ensures accountability at every level of the organization.

2. Institute Fair Guidelines for Personal Time and Electronic Device Usage During Work Hours

As an employer, you have the right to define permissible employee behavior within your workplace or during working hours (if employees work remotely). Implement any such guidelines fairly across the organization while allowing for differing needs within different departments or teams. For example, it is reasonable to prohibit the use of personal electronic devices on production lines, where they may constitute a safety hazard, while permitting them in office settings, where employees may need them to check work email or calendars.

3. Establish Clear Channels for Employee Feedback

Create a process and workflow through which employees at every level of your organization can provide feedback about their experiences or colleagues. These channels are essential to the smooth functioning of your teams and the overall environment of your organization, both of which affect productive capacity and efficiency in turn. 

4. Empower High-Performing Employees

Incentivize productivity and performance by recognizing and empowering employees who exceed metrics or targets you’ve set for them. This can be as simple as singling out an employee of the week or month, or offering incentives. This strategy is all the more effective when an element of healthy competition is involved — that is, when the highest-performing employees in a given measurement period are eligible to receive these incentives.

5. Use Contests and Games to Increase Productivity and Performance on a Daily and Weekly Basis

In the spirit of healthy competition, use contests and games to incentivize productivity and performance over shorter measurement periods (daily or weekly). The value involved in these contests and games need not be extraordinary, but the prizes should be appealing to generate interest among your employees.

6. Create and Publicize Opportunities for Advancement Within the Organization

Over longer periods of time, employees are more likely to work hard, put in longer hours, and strive to produce to the very peak of their potential when they believe that doing so will open up opportunities for advancement within your organization. If these opportunities already exist, make sure that all employees (at every level of the organization) are aware of them. If they do not yet exist, it is up to you and your management team to create them.

7. Shore Up Employee Benefits 

Adding or enhancing employee benefits will impact your organization’s bottom line in the short term. However, this move is best thought of as an investment in your organization’s long-term future and in the well-being of your workforce.

“When employees feel secure and empowered in their workplace, they tend to be happier, which in turn allows them to be more productive in their daily tasks.” — George Otte

Productivity and performance naturally follow.

8. Invest in Team-Building Efforts and Inter-Departmental Communication

Teams work better together when their members get along. To ensure that your workforce’s productivity isn’t hampered by miscommunication or interpersonal tension, make regular investments in team-building exercises and inter-departmental projects. 

For example, a quarterly “volunteer day” is a great way to get your team out of the workplace and into a new, low-stress environment, such as a roadside cleanup site or food bank. In such settings, with a clear common goal to work toward, employees can leave the everyday stresses of the workplace behind. With luck, those stresses will be gone when they return to the job, clearing the way for increased productivity. 

Have you implemented any of these strategies to improve productivity within your own organization?

George Otte is a Miami-based entrepreneur and executive with more than 15 years of multifaceted business operations experience.

By George Otte

Starting a business isn’t an easy task. Not all new enterprises survive past their first year of existence; more than half fail to make it past their fifth anniversary.

But don’t let those statistics deter you from following your dream. If you are not sure that you have the management expertise to build and inspire a first-rate team, you may wish to bring on a co-founder or senior executive with more experience in this regard.

Alternatively, you can help develop your team. These six strategies will improve your team’s internal functioning and may give your company the advantage it needs to survive and thrive in a competitive marketplace.

1. Delegate Non-Core Tasks to the Best-Qualified Vendors or Subordinates

New managers must learn how to delegate. There simply is not enough time in the day for you to address every issue that comes up in the course of business. Nor are you always the best person to address such issues. Indeed, as founder, your purview is strategic and high-level; you must leave it to others to execute on many necessary but non-core tasks. That said, part of your role involves finding and cultivating the best internal employees and outside vendors for each such task.

2. Maintain Clear Boundaries Between Your Professional and Personal Spheres

Although it is important to make your employees feel welcome and supported in their work environment, it is perhaps more important not to blur the lines between the personal and the professional.

“Strive to clearly and effectively communicate standards of workplace behavior and practices, and then hold yourself to these standards above all others.” — George Otte

3. Focus on Clear, Concise Communication

Professional behavior is not the only workplace matter that demands clear and concise communication. As a general rule, your employees should always know where they personally stand; they should also have some visibility into the company’s strategic direction, finances, and competitive position, as these domains may all come to bear on their own roles and employment security.

4. Lead by Example and Follow Any Policies You Set

As the company leader, it’s incumbent upon you to follow your own rules and policies. Make a point of leading by example; if you find it difficult to personally follow a policy you’ve set for your employees, think carefully about whether it should continue.

5. Use Project Management Software to Manage Complex Initiatives and Stay on Track for Longer-Term Goals

Rather than relying on ad hoc organization systems to drive complex initiatives forward, use a project management tool that allows collective visibility by all applicable stakeholders.

6. Give Subordinates Space to Thrive

Provided you’ve made sound hiring decisions, you should have the utmost trust in your subordinates to do the duties they’ve been assigned (as defined in their job description and subsequent coaching). Accordingly, do your best to resist the urge to micro-manage their day-to-day activities.

Are you a first-time entrepreneur? Which of these tips do you find most valuable?

George Otte is a Miami-based entrepreneur and executive with more than 15 years of multifaceted business operations experience.