One of the biggest challenges that any business owner has is hiring the right people for the job. That can be compounded when an employee leaves without any notice. The business owner then goes into scramble mode trying to hire a “Warm Body” to fill the vacuum left by the departing employee. Many times these types of hires meet with disastrous results. So how do you overcome this issue? By using the “Bullpen Concept.”
Allow me to illustrate. It’s the bottom of the 7th inning and the starting pitcher has put a couple of men on base and may be tired. What is the first thing the manager does? That’s right; he calls down to the bullpen to get a relief pitcher warmed up. The manager goes out to the mound, gives a pep talk to the pitcher, and goes back to the dugout. If the pitcher does well, the bullpen relief pitchers sit back down. However if the starting pitcher continues to struggle, the manager comes out of the bullpen and replaces the starting pitcher with a fresh relief pitcher.
Now let’s translate this into your business. When you have an employee who is struggling or unreliable, it puts an extra amount of burden on your business. You train them, coach them, motivate them, but they just never improve. However without a stable of potential candidates in your “Bullpen” you are at the mercy of their employment with you. Now imagine if you were continually interviewing for talent in your business even if you didn’t have a specific opening? You would then have a “Bullpen” of potential future employees that you could call and quickly hire if the need arises. One of my favorite mottos is A.B.R. “Always Be Recruiting.”
Let me give you a real life story. A commercial plumber was having a difficult time with unreliable employees who would flake out and disrupted his business. They knew they could do that as the owner had no other option but to keep them on board in order to get jobs completed. I then started having him continually interview plumbers even though he did not have an opening. A few weeks later one of his plumbers failed to show up for work. I had him go through his bullpen and a few phone calls later he had the plumber replaced. Several days later the old employee came back expecting his job to still be there. To his shock he had been replaced. This also sent a message to the team that they could no longer get away with poor performance, and absenteeism dramatically fell off.
Remember to develop your bullpen, and A.B.R.!!!!