Friday, April 27, 2012

John Jefferis: “Hire for attitude, train for skills”

Employees are the engine of a company. Any good leader knows this, including John Jefferis of the Coco Reef Resorts, who gives credit to his employees by taking into consideration their contribution to the company’s success.


John Jefferis Photo Credit: Cbc.ca


Michael Crom, executive vice president at Dale Carnegie Training and columnist at USAToday.com, once said, “the most important competitive advantage in any business, especially a fast-growing one, is its work force — the skills and the dedication of its employees.” In a business, an idea is worthless if there’s no strategic plan for its realization. And to achieve seamless execution of the idea, well-trained and knowledgeable employees are necessary.


John Jefferis Photo Credit: Officialtips.com


When employing people to be part of the team, the management should look beyond the facts written in the resume. Famous hotelier John Jefferis employs his own special strategy. He believes that leaders should “hire for attitude, train for skills.” Apart from considering the skills and past experiences of applicants, he also looks at their attitude as an important factor in getting hired and attaining success in the business.


Mr. Jefferis provides his employees with a different outlook on how they should view the business and do their work. During orientation, he makes his employees visualize work as a “theatre; wherein Coco Reef Resorts is the well-crafted stage, and they, as employees, are the actors.”


From John Jefferis


This type of motivation makes employees do their best. Career experts call this “employee empowerment,” a perspective that implies that people at all levels in the company possess unique knowledge and abilities that can be of great value to the company.


Know more about John Jefferis and Coco Reef Resorts by visiting this website.