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22 | Kitchen & Bath Design News | September 2015 O kay, the economy this year is pretty good. If you're like many kitchen/bath design frm owners, you may be looking to hire another sales designer. This time you want to do it right – not just grab a glib industry veteran who claims he will give you a quick $1,000,000 in additional sales. The last time you made that decision, you spent over seven months of your own time cleaning up all the projects he had messed up royally. He almost permanently ruined your carefully cultivated reputation for quality workmanship, superior customer ser- vice and outstanding value. And the last experienced CKD you hired was a good designer and a good person, but couldn't move people to sign on the dotted line – at least not enough to make any serious money for the company. So you made a tough, but wise decision and freed up that workstation. She's working from her home now designing proj- ects for a fee. This time around you would re- ally like a consistent performer who will help your company grow to the next level. Maybe even somebody who could head up a branch showroom in a growing market 30 minutes away. Or possibly be a candidate to buy your business in 10-15 years if you are indeed ready to retire. So where, or how, do you fnd such an individual? WHY PEOPLE SUCCEED In his book Give and Take, Wharton business professor Adam Grant shares some extraordinary truths about how and why people succeed. He writes: "For many years, psycholo - gists believed in any domain, success depended upon talent frst and motiva- tion second. Today, we have compelling evidence that interest precedes the de- velopment of talent. It turns out that motivation is the reason that people develop talent in the frst place." Grant recounts how young pia- nists became so much better than their peers because they practiced many more hours. As true "givers," their teachers were caring, supportive and patient. They made piano lessons enjoyable, which then served as a cat- alyst for the long of hours of practice to develop the pianists' talent. You may recall that Tiger Woods became an exceptional golfng tal- ent in his early twenties not just because he started playing at a very young age. His superior talent was developed largely because his father was there for him all the time while Tiger practiced year after year for two decades, encouraging, coaching and pushing him to be better. Research has shown that a teach- er's belief will create a self-fulflling prophecy. When a teacher believes a student is a "bloomer," the teacher sets high expectations for the pu- pil's success. As a result, the student feels motivated to work harder. And the teacher tends to engage in more supportive behaviors that boost the student's confdence, speeding and re- fning his or her development. When a pupil makes some mistakes, a good teacher would see these as teachable moments rather than believe there was any lack of ability. LOOK FOR GRIT Looking back over the years in this industry, it strikes me that so many kitchen/bath owners ft the classic "taker" description in Grant's book. In general, they expect new hires to be productive immediately without providing the necessary direction, organizational support, training and encouragement. Sadly, owners are apparently just too busy to provide the kind of leadership and mentoring that could make a real diference in results, both for the individual and the company. But recently we have experienced many tough years in business during and immediately following the 2007- 2009 Great Recession. Perhaps some owners may be willing now to do a makeover on themselves and become givers to achieve their desired corpo - rate fnancial goals. By default, givers start by viewing virtually everyone as bloomers. Then they zero in on a person's grit. Psychologist Amy Duckworth defnes grit as having the "passion and perseverance toward achieving long-term goals." Yes, intelligence and aptitude are important. But a person's interest, focus and drive have proven to achieve higher performance. More than anything else, these qualities de- termine whether someone will realize their full potential – or not. That's why givers who are busi- ness owners will seek gritty people, giving them the greatest return on their investment. Givers set high ex- pectations, push and stretch people, so the new team members end up doing more than they thought pos - sible. Forcing people to work harder than they ever did before ultimately benefts them in the long run. You just have to make the learning process interesting and enjoyable. HIRE & DEVELOP TALENT Years ago I had aspirations of develop- ing a handful of satellite showrooms in Connecticut. In retrospect, I had several things going for me to accom- plish this goal: (1) my main role had evolved from being a sales designer to a general sales manager; (2) I had the time to work on developing the business; and (3) I was most defnite- ly a "giver." By this time, I also had enough experiences hiring industry people with baggage who'd proven to be unproductive. I knew I had to do something diferent. So, I decided to develop and con- duct a five-week adult education evening class. I drafted the ideal specifcations for a company sales designer, placed an ad and then screened telephone inquiries. Those that best ft the ideal profle were invited to have interviews. Those that subsequently demonstrated good character, revealed a strong work ethic and had an interest in creative work were then invited to attend the course. Within a week, I had 8-14 people registered for this course who paid a modest fee for the materials. One key to this recruitment pro- gram's success was that the attendees all knew they were competing for a single open position. The 10-session curriculum covered the basics of design, the fundamentals of selling and the diferences in cabinet quality grades. Between the questions asked during class, the quality of their homework assignments, the diligence of showing up on time for 2.5-hour- long sessions and their overall engagement with me as the instruc- tor, I gained a keen insight into their level of interest in the kitchen/bath design profession, their capability to be successful and their motivation to give it all they had to win the job. In Grant's vernacular, I was measuring their grit. To be sure, some of the folks famed out along the way. But that was to be expected. The program was a success at both ends. For the regis- trants, they were able to investigate a possible new profession without jeopardizing their current job. For my company, we could make an of- fer to the most outstanding performer – the one with the most grit – and have them commence a three-month Bettering Your Bottom Line { Ken Peterson, CKD } Finding a Diamond in the Rough When hiring new staf, it's important to look not just for talent, but also for passion and grit, and to continue to develop new employees by providing the necessary direction, organizational support, training and encouragement. Read past columns and features and send us your comments about this article and others by logging onto our Web site: KitchenBathDesign.com "More than anything else, a person's interest, focus and drive will determine whether or not they will realize their full potential."