As managers, one of the biggest challenges we face on a daily basis is that of actually managing our employees. A common challenge we discovered within our group was the difficulty of hiring the right people for the right role. Not only must the technical skills needed to perform the job be defined, but managers must also determine the type of behavioral skills the new employee must possess in order to fit into the existing team dynamic. The latter is much more difficult to identify. It is essential to find the right personalities that will work well and complement your existing team. Personnel Decisions International (1999) explains that when hiring people, it is important to determine which skills are most important to the organization as well as the position. Management involvement in articulating behavioral expectations of new roles is essential. In one of the situations in our team discussions, we discussed the behavior of an IT professional hired as a contract employee. It seemed that management continued to hire creative people and foster an environment that would allow people to work independently without many expressed behavioral limitations. Certain behaviors, such as showing up to work on time and meeting deadlines, were not behaviors this person excelled at. He lacked concentration, even for interesting research projects. Unfortunately, his behavior was only addressed during his annual review, which took place more than a year after he joined the company. Following his examination, his behavior improved for a while; however, this was short-lived. After a month, the same patterns reappeared. Failure to provide ongoing coaching, perhaps even daily, may have helped this person... middle of paper ...... having more "soft skills" was more effective than having the skills techniques. to do the work. The success of your business depends largely on its employees, and although time-consuming, coaching is an important aspect of the profession that every manager should practice. References: Personnel Decisions International. (1999). The Successful Leader's HandbookAxelrod, Beth, Handfield-Jones, Helen, & Michaels, Ed. (2002). A New Game for Players C. Harvard Business Review, 81-89. Waldroop, James and Butler, Timothy. (1996). The Executive as Coach. Harvard Business Review, 111-118. Manzoni, Jean-François and Barsoux, Jean-Louis. (1998). The syndrome of preparing to fail. Harvard Business Review, 101-113. Waldroop, James and Butler, Timothy. (1999). Job sculpture. The art of retaining your best employees. Harvard Business Review, 143-52.