While pursuing a professional baseball career with the Chicago White Sox, Art Niemann during the off-seasons began a career in human resources management. After baseball, it became a full-time pursuit.
Niemann, now president of Art Niemann and Co. in Salt Lake City, UT, trains managers in recruiting, selecting and retaining top-quality employees.
He says a manager's top priorities in the dealership are to “hire and train, motivate and retain.”
It is important to find the right person for the right job because “people are best at doing what comes natural,” he says, and “generally, most people don't change all that much.”
Different jobs require different behavioral patterns. Niemann, who holds a degree in psychology, cites four basic styles of behavior.
- Assertive, competitive type. These people are proactive, controlling, initiating, driven and decisive. They are best suited for commission pay and jobs that require challenges, leadership and the ability to see the “big picture.”
- Sociable, extroverted type. Such people are talkative, outgoing, engaging, confident and persuasive. They are best suited for sales and customer service; jobs with much social contact but requiring minimum details.
- Calm, deliberative type. Classify these people as stable, predictable, methodical, patient, persistent and focused. They are best suited for repetitive tasks, requiring concentration and low-pressure customer service.
- Exacting, structured type. As employees, these people are detailed, organized, precise, accurate, logical and by the book. They are best suited for structured, low-pressure jobs that require attention to detail, a focus on data and numbers.
