Why Staffing Firms are Using This Trick from the Manufacturing Industry
Operational productivity is one of the key differentiators between staffing agencies that thrive and those that struggle. When it comes to becoming a consistently productive agency, consistent follow-through is required. Firms that execute their well thought-out plans, like implementing a K.I.S.S.S. strategy and asking 4 “ate” questions, succeed. Those that don’t have a clear strategy fail.
So why don’t people follow through on plans, especially for something as important as improving operational effectiveness and productivity? The answer may be staring you right in the face.
Take a look around your office or cubicle. Do the same when you get home tonight. When’s the last time you paid attention to the art or decorations you’ve put up at your home or office? Not just a glance but taking a few moments to appreciate the beauty of a piece or remembering what attracted you to it in the first place. Most people admit that the only time they take notice is when someone asks them where they acquired a particular object or its significance. Simply put, after a while everything blends in, even things that are especially meaningful to us.
This is commonplace blindness. Once we get used to something, it becomes commonplace. We stop noticing it.
Smart manufacturers have found the cure to commonplace blindness
Smart product manufacturers understand commonplace blindness, which is why they change their packaging from time to time. They want us to keep paying close attention to their products. Last year, a soft drink company changed their packaging to look similar to a well-known competing product. Just above the label on the can were the words “Great new look. Same great taste.” Did the new packaging work? Absolutely. It was noticeable enough to be mentioned here.
Commonplace blindness happens every day in staffing companies across the globe, and it’s not only the art that’s being overlooked. Those signs espousing your streamlined recruiting best practices haven’t been noticed in months. The sales process document that you ask people to keep on their desks is collecting dust. The onboarding checklist that was put on tablets for convenience is ignored after a few months. Seeing these items becomes part of the routine. These items blend in, causing people to take them for granted and stop paying attention to them.
Leaders often have to remind people to do the very things noted on the walls, process documents, or screens because of commonplace blindness. The cure is relatively simple: change the packaging. You do that by altering the look, location, or liability.
You can alter the design, color, or formatting—the look. Moving the location, just like moving furniture, often recaptures attention. To shift the liability, delegate responsibility to team members for regularly modifying the look or location of process documentation.
When staffing agencies address this the way manufacturers do, they win
What happens when organizations counter commonplace blindness by changing the look, location, or liability? Check out these recent successes:
- A large staffing company all but eliminated internal staff turnover during the first 90 days of employment as interviewers consistently followed every written step of the hiring and interview process.
- A boutique staffing agency tripled its flow of top talent when staff remembered to follow their proven and well-documented recipe for writing job posts.
- A mid-market staffing firm doubled the number of candidates placed on assignment each week when staff stopped overlooking their streamlined workflow for taking and validating job orders.
- A global recruitment firm sourced more quality candidates than they needed for hard-to-fill roles when the recruiting team stopped relying on their memory and followed their checklists for tapping into all of the streams of talent.
Taking the best parts of the manufacturing industry help you achieve your productivity goals
When productivity is suffering, commonplace blindness might be the reason. By changing how you highlight expectations, you increase the likelihood that your team will follow through. Adopting how manufacturers keep products top of mind can do just that.
