2019, Total Systems Development, Inc.The Role of HR in a Continuous Improvement Organization: Selection System
(Reposted by permission of the author from LinkedIn)
In our previous articles, we discussed many HR issues with an eye on the systems integration to achieve our organization’s purpose. Selection was only mentioned as an issue, but because it is the beginning of the relationship with the organization, how we get people into the selection process and how they emerge is the one opportunity to get people who are likely to be successful. This relies on the principle that the best way to select people is based on the behavior they have exhibited in the past. It is the best predictor of the future. With this in mind, the selection system is focused on finding behavioral examples and demonstrations that are used to determine if they are consistent with what the organization needs to deliver success.
The behaviors mentioned are called competencies. Competencies are collections of behaviors that are indicators of success in the organization. They are created through a needs assessment that provides the basis of behavior that are connected to the goals of the organization. They are determined through a series of interviews with people within the organization who are considered successful by asking one simple question in many forms, “When you achieved past success in the organization, what were the behaviors you used?”. In the process of establishing the competencies, hundreds of interviews are conducted and key trends in successful behavior are sought. The person who is defining the competencies is looking for repeated behavior used to create success for the organization.
The way the behaviors fits into the HR system is that it delivers a set of competencies that can be used for selection, training, performance appraisal and development of individuals. I use the term “system” because all the competencies apply to everyone in the organization. As they are applied, the definitions determined from the interviews are the same definitions used for all purposes. Each competency is broken down into several key behaviors that can be measured. For the person assessing competency, observing the behavior becomes a matter of determining if what they are seeing is positive or negative behavior. The enables the assessor to score the collection of behaviors into an overall picture of competency.
It is a primary role of HR to ensure that those entering the company have the greatest likelihood of being successful. The HR department must be dedicated to & very knowledgeable about selection systems and the legal environment that surround selection decisions. They must document and configure the competencies into a valid selection process and verify the actual effect of those selected. In time, they must validate the system to ensure it is serving its intended purpose. In addition, the selection system must be administered to not just deliver competent people but to deliver them just in time. This requires HR to have a pool of people who have successfully completed the selection system ready to be placed in the appropriate job.
For the leader, competencies provide a framework and basis of comparison for observing and giving feedback to individuals in all aspects of performance. At Toyota, we also used competencies to do promotional training, provide coaching and to give feedback to individuals. Each of these is based on observing critical incidents as the samples of behavior. These samples aid in giving direct solid feedback when explaining expectations and evaluations.
For selections, the system of competencies must meet the requirements of being reliable, effective and efficient as they are formed into the selection system. To be empirically correct, they need to give a reliable evaluation of the competencies possessed by each candidate. When you combine all the competency evaluations, they form a picture of the behavior that will be used on the job. The selection system is targeted only to the competencies and thus provides an efficient rating that is effective in finding people whose behavior will be effective on the job.
Once the competencies are determined, a selection system grid is established that matches the chosen competencies with at least two opportunities to measure each them. This grid provides the variety of methods that are both efficient and effective in selecting competent candidates for successful employment. For example, ability to learn is a competency that is used to quickly determine if the individual in the selection process are candidates who will proceed to the next level. Selecting based on intelligence alone has been a problem in the past. Using an intelligence test creates the problem when the tests available do not measure the many kinds of intelligence used. A selection system is designed to not just evaluate intelligence, but all types of competency based on those who created your organizations success. The system must be complex in its evaluation and include all competencies discovered in the interview based on successful people within the organization.
The selection system process historically has had a 26-week duration to accomplish all the pieces. Many improvements have been made to reduce that to no more than one week. An indirect effect of this time taken is the building of culture, beginning during the selection process. Examples of behavioral situations found within the organization are used and the expectations for behavior in those situations are laid out through the selection process.
How does it work?
The selection processes have several levels. The first is the determination of practical learning. This leads the simulations and is put in place to allow the assessors to determine quickly who should proceed. Practical learning tests are easily quantified and can adhere to cutoff standards. Those successful proceed on to the competency-based interviews, then the physical demand sampling, followed by a physical to determine overall health and finally to the selection. At each stage, approximately 50% of the candidates are selected out. At the end of all the stages only about 10% are selected in. The numbers are small because the requirements are very strict and only found in a few. In this process, each successive level is more demanding in finding the very best people for selection. In the end, those selected believe they have earned their place in the company and the process of accountability begins.
This success rate creates a demand for having at least ten people in the selection system for one successful member. HR personnel must build a selection pool of people to enter the selection process. These are people who have the required experience but have not been assessed for competency. To complete the difficult selection process gives the individuals a sense of accomplishment. An implied but not tested effect of completing the process is the willingness to stick something structured until it is finished.
As selection has evolved over the years, several changes have emphasized to improve efficiency. More hands-on application of work has taken the place of created simulations. These hand-on situations are not exactly what is happening in every job but are extracted pieces of real work that are valid to the entire work process. This is combined with real time work experience on the job for over a longer period than was traditionally utilized. From the time the person is selected to come to the company, it will take approximately 22 weeks to be fully on the job, which includes the preliminary selection activities, being placed in a job and including time for work hardening at the fitness center. This time also includes the assimilation program as the basic introduction to the company. The longer, slower introduction to the job has improved retention, helps reduce accidents and gives the new team member the opportunity to get integrated into the team while learning. Since production pace is fast and the attention to detail greater and greater, not having to train new workers most of the workday is considered an improvement by those on the job. Toyota has been using more temporary labor to buffer swings in demand but the criteria for becoming a temporary team member is the same as a regular team member.
These are great improvements from the original selection system in all aspects of the work including time off the job, selection rate improvement, more relevance to the job, more time to learn how to enter the job safely with less fatigue and less intensive time to fully integrate a new member while still keeping the high retention rates near 95% year to year.
To design a new selection system, it is important to connect it to real business necessity for a growing product demand by having a pool of potential candidates in place, who have been selected based on behaviors for success (competency). For the new employee, the process flows more smoothly and the expectation for work is met.
In addition to the value adders and line support personnel, most selection systems have evolved not because of new methods but because of the first-rate utilization of competency to find and attract salaried personnel. The behaviors, thanks to years of practical use, are integrated into the interview techniques and engagement providing more information to the candidate. Targeted selection is utilized to create a very efficient process of determining the competency being brought to the job. Retention rates are over 90% for five years in most of these companies.
Most organizations today complain that the large numbers of people are not available to allow salaried pools to be created. The process for these candidates is designed for the person being selected by being well defined and providing the individuals with a clear view of what their job is going to be. The process is still interviews combined with some specific tests. The key to selection and retention of these salaried candidates is the practice by managers of evaluating based past behavior and coaching based on current behavior to determine success. During the review period, the manager is collecting behavioral samples used to give feedback for coaching. For the person, the competencies used to select them are the same as the competencies used for performance.
It is a misconception that one test can determine successful selection. Good measurement requires multiple measures. Having multiple ways to measure competency aids in the validation of the system and the individual. HR must be aware that a lucky guess is rare and hard work in defining success will have a significant payback.
Just as in all aspects of HR, the selection system is expected to continuously improve. The issue is not that this needs to be mandated but that the mandate is clear and the need for information to drive improvement becomes the main issue. So, where do you look to fine the way forward to improvement?
The selection system is based on the premise that competencies will be a great predictor of success on the job. This cannot be taken as an answer but as an indicator of success. By that, I mean as the business changes so should the competencies change. The competencies must be validated against reliable data. If the performance appraisal system uses competency to determine success on the job, then the competencies must be validated against performance measures. The validity study will be a rich source of data about the relevancy of each competency and some may change, some may be eliminated, and some may even be weighted to place emphasize those behaviors that most highly correlate with success on the job. This could be a rich source of improvement from productivity to innovation as indicate by competency.
Other sources of data for improvement can be attained from opinion surveys, Employee Relations encounters with coaching or even responses to leadership communications. Each will need to be looked at individually to see if the selection criteria still correlates with defined competency.
In selection systems that I have experienced, these sources of improvement can be data for CPI:
- The level of the pool of candidates that need to be kept
- The mix of skills that should be in the pool
- The reduction in the length of time taken to select
- The method for selection- a series of simulations or one integrated simulation
- The time taken to interview
- The reduction in the competencies used in the interview process
- The time taken to get a person medically able to be selected
- The use of internal personnel to select for promotion.
These are a few examples. Any one of them could be a source of improvement. Those involved in the selection process must be aware of the standards/expectations for the system and use the generated information and data as a source for improvement.
Selection is one of the issues that generates a great deal of emotion. Reducing the emotion will by itself improve productivity. Selection has many hidden costs which were highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article which said turnover is a very expensive event. Getting selection right will improve people, timeliness and process. All this impacts the work done and therefore are of primary emphasis. HR can turn selection into a competitive advantage and strength of the entire business.
2019, Total Systems Development
2019, Total Systems Development, Inc.