Darwin Strikes Again…

© Dana Rothstein | Dreamstime Stock Photos

I’m sorry to bring this up again after all the uproar has died down…but there are lessons for all of us from the Paris Brown affair.  I think Police Commissioners everywhere will be feeling the strain of this one for a while yet…but for the rest of us the worst may be yet to come…

As managers, we must be left with the unease that a member of our staff might cause our company name to be linked with the disreputable, damaging reputations and ultimately costing jobs.  Of course, this is covered off in company policy…but can we ever be sure that “one of ours” isn’t going to have their moment?  Is it our head on the block, too?

As employers, the recruitment scene subtley changed when social media became a source of addtional information about prospective candidates. Thanks Yahoo, you may have spoilt it for us by explaining to people that vitriolic tweets can catch up with them… and yet there are still people out there who appear not to care what impression they give and employers can manage to avoid them.

As parents, what if our precious offspring follow Ms Brown’s lead and broadcast their immaturity to the world…the world that you and they hope will one day offer them a living. How do you get over something like this?

At Quicksilva I usually say “Recruit for behaviours as you can always teach skills” and this is becoming accepted by more and more businesses as the competition for jobs increases.  It is sad to see so many young people who do not have all the skills needed to communicate in the workplace as reported in The Guardian.

So, once they have these skills, how do we teach them about the consequences of using them?