Once there was a chicken farm in Arkansas. Call it "Megachick." It was organized into two major divisions:
Division 1 - the "Egg to Hatch" Division - was responsible for producing hatchlings.
Division 2 - the "Chick to Sale" Division - was responsible for raising the chicks.
Then one day - a problem appeared!
The new president of Megachick was looking at some reports and he noticed with alarm that apparently many chicks were dying too soon. So he got the two division heads together and gave them orders to study the problem, identify the root causes, and report back within a month.
The SEVP of Egg-to-Hatch reported that the cause of the problem was crystal clear:
"Poor chick management explains it all!" he exclaimed. "We provide Division 2 with the highest quality hatchlings. We feed the brood hens plenty of nourishing food, maintain an optimal hatching environment, and subject the whole process to rigorous quality control, destroying any eggs that exhibit even the least signs of abnormality. But we have heard that Division 2 skimps on food and inoculations, keeps their chicken houses too cold in winter and too hot in summer, doesn't give the chicks enough room to grow, and further stresses the chicks by allowing supervisors to play loud, raucous music 24x7! No wonder they're all dropping like flies!"
"Not so," said the SEVP of Chick-to-Sale, cranking up her Powerpoint. "The truth is that we are getting inferior hatchlings right from the start. We take great care of them, but the brood hens Division 1 has been buying are genetically inferior. Their feed contains harmful hormones designed to increase egg production at the expense of quality. Their QA program is a joke; they destroy only 1 egg in 1000 - way too low a percentage! In fact they only care about one thing - getting eggs to hatch. Why, a lot of them are sick and abnormal when they're hatched, even though that doesn't show up for a while. It's no wonder they're croaking like catfish in the Sahara!"
Now the president was truly perplexed. Not knowing which one to believe, he instructed the two division heads to "reach out to each other" and "work toward a constructive solution in the spirit of open partnership". They were to present their solutions in 8 weeks. But by then it was too late - seven weeks later, Megachick went belly up!
You may ask, "So what? My company doesn't raise chickens; we sell life insurance!"
Maybe, but look around and you'll see the Megachick story played out every day in the world of recruiting and talent management. You might see an article on "How Bad Managers Drive Out Great Talent - Poor Retention Explained (P.S. Don't Blame Us Recruiters)" or another called "You Can't Turn A Sow's Ear Into A Silk Purse - How Poor Recruiting, Screening and Selection Practices Are Hurting Retention And Productivity (P.S. Don't Blame Us Managers)"!
In fact, both sides are right - both really are to blame - but mutual finger pointing only makes the problem worse. The challenge for those responsible for company financial performance and risk management is how to hold everyone who has a part of the problem accountable for working with everyone else who has part of the problem - and getting it solved.
I mean, personally accountable. Will that require knocking some heads together? Not accepting lame excuses? Demoting or firing some people? Spending some time and money? You bet, but with nearly 25% annual turnover in companies of over 5000 employees, and nearly half of new hires failing within 18 months of being hired (at a cost of at least 2X annual salary each), what have you got to lose?
For some excellent information on taking the first step - namely, establishing some meaningful recruitment and selection metrics - be sure to check out this great book by Dr. John Sullivan:
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