BEST PRACTICES IN RECRUITING, HIRING, SUPERVISING, DISCIPLINING AND RETAINING, WHILE STAYING CLIENT CENTERED Dawn Deaner Metropolitan Public Defender Nashville, TN

Best Practices?

If People Are Our Best Asset, Then Why…

1.Wrong People on the Bus 2.Right People Not on the Bus 3.Right People in the Wrong Seats

Who Belongs On Your Bus? 1.People who share your Office’s CORE VALUES – CLIENT CENTERED REPRESENTATION 2.People who are self-motivated 3.People with innate talents you need 4.Existing staff you would still hire, given all you know about them

Identify qualities that are critical for the role you need to fill Differentiate between qualities that are “nice” to have from those the role requires Search, Really

RECRUITING SEARCH Existing Pool of Candidates?: “Most hiring mistakes occur because managers don’t have the right person to select.” Write an Enticing Position Announcement Target populations you are seeking to recruit ▫Diversity ▫Local hires Mass Marketing Professional Associations Internship Programs Staff Contacts Connector Sources

Madison County, JUSTO Office INVESTIGATOR Bill Stewart What challenges exist? How address them? Job Description? Innate talents vs. training?

Hiring Process Who in your Office is involved in the process? Investigate the Candidates so you can hire based on the actual, rather than the hypothetical Probe prior experiences Simulate job activities References

Talent Over Experience Talent Impact Experience Time

Developing People in Your Organizations Do ThisChallenges to Doing This Orientation Introduction to Staff Hands on Management Regular Feedback and Performance Evaluations Based on Client-Centered Values Ambitious Goals Mentoring Be Thoughtful Invest in Your Best Time, Time, Time The things you can’t change Telling the difference between a development and a performance issue Bad managers

Retaining (Only) Your Best People Personal Rapport and Thoughtfulness Meaningful Roles and Real Responsibility Facilitate/Foster a Sense of Progress Changing Roles/Growth Avoid Bad Managers Money – not the most important, but a factor Encourage and promote Self Care

BREAKING UP

Walking the Talk of Client-Centeredness “ Most managers do not remove low or mediocre performers quickly or frequently enough.” “A commitment to providing a job for someone mediocre is contradictory to [serving clients at the highest level.]

Why Do We Settle? We believe in giving more chances to improve. We believe we haven’t invested enough in promoting improvement. We are concerned about the time it will take to hire someone new. Good is the enemy of great—we are afraid we won’t find anyone better. It sucks, and we want to avoid feeling sucky. We feel bad for the person. We hope the person will quit.

KEEPER…..OR NOT? Is George Doing Such a Bad Job that He Should Be Fired? WRONG QUESTION

What’s the Right Question? Is He Doing So Well That He Shouldn’t Be Asked to Leave? Is He Performing As Our Ideal Candidate Would Perform? If Not, Can That Be Addressed With Reasonable Devotion of Resources? What is Your Gut Telling You? If You Pretend The Break-Up Would Be Easy, Would You Break-Up?

Option One: “Coaching Out” Honest conversation with mediocre performer about fundamental mismatch between job and skills. Goal: mutual agreement on exit

Option 2: Progressive “Discipline” Informal warning Formal, explicit warning that next step is job loss Follow up should be close in time, and goals fully met Termination ▫Decide upon logistics ▫Conversation – direct and to the point, with decision final ▫Be Honest and Compassionate