|  |  |  | | | | | | SECTION I – The A in L.E.A.D.E.R.S.: ASSIGNMENT | | |
“Square Pegs in Round Holes Never Fit!”
You will notice as we go through the seven steps in my the book, You’re In Charge…What Now? that there seems to be a sequential nature to these steps. Life, and certainly leadership, is not always linear or sequential, but there is some logic to thinking about the process in something of a sequential manner. There is little doubt in my mind that starting with the right mind set—Love—is an essential starting point. You probably agree that setting the expectations for the unit and the individual jobs is a logical first step in the journey toward having a productive work unit. The next step we outline, Assignment, is equally logical as the next step in our sequence. Once you decide what needs to be done (Expectations) as a unit leader, you obviously need to determine how it is going to get done and who is going to do it (Assignment). Assignment is a critical to your goal of being a peak performance leader, because without the proper structure for doing a job and the proper assignment of staff to that job, there is not much that you will be able to accomplish regardless of your efforts and intentions. Your staff members must have the core characteristics that the job requires for success. No amount of training or leading on your part will be able to make a worker succeed in a job where he or she simply does not fit. When you staff your team in the world of work, you must make clear decisions about what the job requires and what the person will need to do. Then you have to match that set of requirements with the right talent. Selecting the right people will at least give you a fair chance at achieving your goals. Without the right knowledge, skills, attitudes and work experience, your staff will undoubtedly fail. Choosing the right people for the job is one of the toughest tasks you will be asked to execute as a leader. The recruitment, employment and placement of the right people is both an “art” and a “science.” There are many right and wrong ways to go about hiring your staff, but rest assured that success is not guaranteed on every hire. You will make mistakes (just as I have many times over the years) but you should try to learn from your wrong choices in order to improve your ability in hiring. Every wrong hire is far more expensive than the out-of-pocket costs associated with attracting and processing a new hire. The loss is even greater when you consider the cost of turnover when the hire fails. The key to effective hiring is effective interviewing, and the key to effective interviews is to use your ears and brain, not your mouth and vocal chords. My most important advice to you for interviewing candidates is to listen to their answers, not your questions. You may ask the right question but still come away with a bad decision if you fail to listen carefully to the response. You must process the answer as a piece of information that you can use to evaluate the capabilities of the candidate. All of that said, interviewing takes practice and a solid understanding of human behavior. If you can get help in the form of formal training, take it. It will probably pay huge dividends for you. | | | SECTION II – Mini Case – “The World's Shortest Interview ” | | |
Tammy was about to start the interview when it occurred to her that she did not have the candidate’s resume. She hurriedly looked through several files, but then had to give up because Kyle had arrived for the interview and was waiting for her in the conference room. Out of time, Tammy went to the conference room to do the interview. “Hello Kyle,” Tammy said, as she walked in and extended her hand to shake Kyle’s. Kyle muttered a hello, and following the hand shake he sat down as soon as Tammy did.
“Kyle, I’ve misplaced your resume, do you have a copy?” Tammy asked. Kyle was caught off guard and said, “No, I forgot to bring one.” Tammy told him not to worry, that they could proceed without it. “Tell me,” she began “why do you want to work at Acme?” Kyle was a little surprised by the question, but answered, “Well, I use your products and I think that your benefit programs will give me an opportunity to work on a graduate degree. After that, I don’t know what I want to do. Are there a lot of chances to move up the ladder at Acme?” Tammy was not overly impressed with his answer, but she told him that she understood how difficult it can be to think about the future. “How do you plan to use the degree to further your career?” she asked. “Well, I am convinced that the people with graduate degrees are going to get the best jobs. I want to get a graduate degree while I’m young so that I can leverage it for that much longer,” Kyle replied. “What are you planning to study in graduate school?” asked Tammy. “Well, I don’t know, but it’s not going to be accounting-related. I don’t like accounting at all,” he said. “I think that I can get an MBA in sales and marketing, which is an area that should be a real advantage for me in the job market. Tammy was now convinced that she knew enough, and would hire Kyle because he was smart, ambitious and immediately available. Filling the job quickly is a priority for Tammy, and she is certain that Kyle has all the tools to be successful. She thanked him and told him she would get back to him the next day. Question: How would you score the interview? The interviewer? The candidate? Answer: Obviously, the interview has been shortened to allow room for this discussion, but honestly, I give it a failing score. Both Tammy and Kyle performed dismally, and the interview was essentially a bust. Her questions led immediately to the subject of graduate school, rather than the critical information about his knowledge, skills and attitudes. She learned nothing about what Kyle has done or even could do. In light of the fact that she also didn’t have his resume at hand, it seems that all Tammy knows about Kyle is that he wants to go to graduate school and study something. Kyle has learned nothing about the job, and the only thing that he has revealed about himself is that he wants to go to graduate school. His unusually honest admission that he doesn’t know what he wants to study is unnerving, because it suggests that he hasn’t even thought about it. His negativity about accounting may be a red flag that he can’t deal with numbers, which are the bottom line of most companies. In short, neither party performed well nor learned much of anything. One crucial mistake that Tammy makes shows up at the very end of the case. She obviously has a major hole in her organization and thinks that she must fill it immediately. This is perhaps the biggest mistake that you can make as a leader who is in the Assignment phase of leading. Remember that making a bad hire to just fill a hole is worse than leaving the hole. Never hire a “body” to fill a hole in your organization. It will always be a costly mistake.
| | | SECTION III –Tips From The Czar | | |
The interview can be a great tool or simply a waste of time. It is essential that you manage the interview, and that you get your agenda covered in the time you have. Some tips for solid interviews:
- Leave enough time to learn something substantial about the candidate. A 15 minute interview is going to be useless; allow at least an hour.
- Make certain that you and the candidate can be comfortable. Neither should want the interview to end quickly just because the chair is uncomfortable.
- Avoid questions that have a yes or no answer. Structure the questions so that the candidate needs to think and respond with more than one sentence.
- Ask questions that focus on things that the person did, not things that they might do. You are trying find out what they did, not what they think you might want to hear as the “ideal answer.”
- Make certain you give the candidate a chance to ask you questions. You can learn a lot about the candidate from the questions asked.
- Do not telegraph to the candidate in the first interview that you are going to hire them. You need time to consider the fit, as do they.
- Get references, and check them. There are constraints on what people can say, but you need to talk to people who know the candidate. Avoid their friends; find bosses.
- Take notes
- Listen, Listen, Listen
| | | SECTION IV – Ask The Czar | | |
Gloria: I have 12 people who report to me. One of the 12 has been demoted from an intern down. This person is bitter about the demotion, but he is performing up to standard. Every now and then he expresses his opinion that he is more qualified to be a manager than existing managers. He is paranoid. Anytime he receives non favorable reviews or comments about himself, he states that this is a plot to fire him. Anytime something is not what he believes it should be, he wants to grieve the situation. Most of the time his grieving is in vain because he has overlooked important information. What are your suggestions on managing this type of person? The Czar: When people get "demoted" they almost always get "demotivated." That is without question what has happened to your associate. Indeed, the paranoid view of the world is pretty predictable. I think if you put yourself into the same situation, it is pretty clear that you would not be a happy camper. In fact, your associate is probably not paranoid; he is probably correct. By that I mean: something serious must have been found in his behavior or performance for him to have been demoted. Assuming it was serious enough to demote, but not serious enough to fire, then he is probably convinced that the next shoe to drop is for him to lose his job. But all of that does not answer your question. The first thing you need to do, is to be certain that you are behaving in a fair and objective way about his performance. Since I do not know from your question what caused the demotion, I can only assume that you did not cause it to happen and may even have inherited this associate. Whatever caused his demotion, he has now been punished and it is imperative that you treat his work objectively. On the other hand, he is not making it easy for you to deal with the situation. Although I am assuming you have already talked to him about his behavior, my guess is you have not been very direct. Unless, and until, his performance deteriorates, or he actually has a negative impact on your other staff members, I would suggest you give him time to get thorough the healing process. He has taken a body blow and you need to give him time to get the grieving out of his system. If it does not slow down, or if it gets worse, then you are going to need to take some action. Obviously, you need to follow your organization’s policies and procedures for progressive feedback and documentation, but my suggestion would be to go beyond that. If there is any reason for you to believe that you or your other staff members are being “blamed” for his demotion then he may become an unhealthy element in the group. If he does not eventually seem to be "getting over it", then you need to consider trying to find him another job in your organization where he does not have all the memories and constant reminders of his failure. This guy may be a serious problem to you, but if he can not heal his anger, he will be a serious problem for himself as well. One last thought, if your organization has an Employee Assistance Program, you might want to consider getting him to take advantage of some of that counseling help. He clearly needs to get over his anger, so you should try to help him in any way you can...that is until he fails to do his job. Then, you have a duty to your staff to deal with the performance issue. Send your questions to gerry@the-czar.com
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