| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Hire The Person, Not The Resume
"? [get] the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats (and the wrong people off the bus) and then [figure] out where to drive it." - Jim Collins - Good To Great "Hire the best staff you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them." - John C. Maxwell - The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership ____________________________________________ Here's a simple tip - hire the person, not the resume. Confronting negative behaviors is an important skill for leaders to develop. But there's a step beyond that for building a high performance team. You hire the right person. The subject of hiring the right person comes up frequently in my work with various clients. It comes up when they need to fill a position. It comes up when they realize they have the wrong person in a position. Sometimes it comes up as a question in a training session. Sometimes it comes up in a private conversation. But it almost always comes up. The most common mistake that I see people make - one that I have made myself - is ranking the person's technical skills ahead of their "soft" skills. I agree that technical skills are important. I don't want to hire a CPA who knows nothing about accounting, and I don't want to hire a nurse who knows nothing about nursing. So, I am not suggesting that you ignore a person's resume. I am suggesting that their experience and training (i.e. - their resume) serves primarily to qualify them for your time investment to interview them. It gets them in the door, but it shouldn't give them the job. Consider this situation. You hire a person with outstanding technical skills. They know everything about the industry, the legal environment, and many other technical aspects of their position - but the rest of your staff cannot stand to work with them. This "technical expert" demands special attention, resists every change, speaks negatively about management and other team members, pushes the limit on workplace rules, etc. Are they worth the trouble? Does the positive contribution from their "technical expert" status justify the damage they do to overall team performance? In most of the situations I've been involved in, the answer is no. In the above scenario, I created a situation where the person under consideration is truly a "technical expert". Among the best, technically, in their field. But, what about the more common situation? The situation where the person is good technically, but they're not necessarily among the best in the industry. Now, how does their behavior with other people balance against their technical skills? It only gets worse. I assume that you will only consider hiring people with at least the basic technical skills to do the job. So, faced with a choice between two candidates: 1) Great "attitude" and acceptable technical skills (for this article, my definition of attitude includes work ethic, drive, initiative, ability to work with others, and other "soft" or difficult to measure skills), and 2) Outstanding technical skills and a poor attitude I choose number one. I find it easier to help people strengthen their technical skills than to improve their attitude. What if you have difficulty finding a person with the right attitude? I suggest you keep looking until you find them. It is better to work short-handed for a short time than to work with a problem employee for a long time. As Jim Collins states in his landmark study Good To Great - "When in doubt, don't hire - keep looking." Copyright 2005, Guy Harris You may use this article for electronic distribution if you will include all contact information with live links back to the author. Notification of use is not required, but I would appreciate it. Please contact the author prior to use in printed media. About the Author: Guy Harris is the Chief Relationship Officer with Principle Driven Consulting. He helps entrepreneurs, business managers, and other organizational leaders build trust, reduce conflict, and improve team performance. Learn more at http://www.principledriven.com Guy co-authored "The Behavior Bucks System TM" to help parents reduce stress and conflict with their children. Learn more about this book at http://www.behaviorbucks.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Say No Rejection hurts. No one likes to give it or to receive it. Marketing Miracle: Outsource Your Creative Services The current economy is causing most companies to tighten their belts. With limited staffing and a restricted budget, how do you continue to promote your business? The simple solution is the occasional or ongoing use of outside resources such as graphic designers, writers, webmasters, and other creative talent. Plan for Business Success - 6 Reasons to Succession Plan Succession Planning provides many valuable assets to your business. Yet it is easy to do, with a game plan. Improvements In A Large Public Electric Utility In South America The company decided to develop and implement an improvement program. The main thrust was to propose strategies and alternatives for the implementation of a quality program. Contract Management Software: the Solution to the Problem of Coordination Charles Petrie, from Stanford, released a short article entitled "The Problem of Coordination," which highlights 4 categories in which businesses find it difficult to connect:InteroperabilityAgent Communication Semantic Unification CoordinationThough this article refers to a specific type of business, its principles are just as applicable to any business, especially when collaborating on a contract. Contract collaboration and management is difficult in any business, and the negotiations can go on for weeks, months, or even years. Involving People Gave Us the Improvements We Needed We had a problem with handling materials in a production department. Our process required raw materials to enter the department, be processed, and leave the department. Its All About The Customers, Baby If you want to ensure a steady stream of customers in your business, you must always remember why you're in business in the first place.Sure you want to earn a decent income for yourself, but you also want to provide a useful service don't you?That second reason should take precedence over the first. Focus Leads To Nonprofit Success: Is Your Organization Rowing or Drifting Picture yourself standing on the bank of a river watching a rowing competition. Carefully watch the crews. Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines - Part IPermission is hereby granted to modify and use the information in this draft sexual harassment guideline, provided you include reference to the author as shown at the end.We shall take all reasonable steps to see that this sexual harassment policy is followed everyone in our organization who has contact with employees. Learn About Commercial Collections Agencies Fees As with any other service, there are good and bad commercial collection agencies. Beware of any agency that offers you cut rate commissions far below the accepted Commercial Law League rates, offers you kickbacks on commissions, or makes outlandish promises about recovery success. Top Ten Things About Creating a Business Vision To visualise where you are going, is deeper and more sensory than anything you have ever done before. And these are the skills of those who are able to create a vision you can really live and breathe. Align The Enterprise & Make Beautiful Music Together Q: Why is a great business like a great marching band?A: The players in both organizations are in alignment.Alignment? Yes, Alignment. Employees Commit Corporate Fraud Imagine the following scenario; Ten years ago you decided to quit your job and start your own company. For ten years you worked hard, made sacrifices, and it paid off in the end. Getting Software Developed for Your Business At some point, your business is going to need to have some software development. Maybe your business is small, but existing software doesn't fit your needs. Miracle Max On Market Breakthroughs Successful enterprise building requires seven elements. These are:1. Hiring Great People And How to Be One Yourself: Five Secrets Bad news.Your senior vice-president, your marketing director or your accounting department head has decided to retire, move to Okinawa or start his own business--and you're left staring, horrified, at a polite letter of resignation. Innovation Management - Measuring Failure! Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Collections Management How long does it take your customers, clients or patients to pay you for the products or services you have provided?Have you developed a consistent collection management program?Your answer to the above questions is a leading indicator as to how well you collection management is. Sending an invoice doesn't always result in payment. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Project Management Skills Solving a big problem is a project: you're far more likely to solve it successfully if you treat it like one. That means you'll need to identify tasks, make and adjust assignments, and keep track of what is due when. Prepare A Winning CV There is every chance that elements of this article may not be appropriate for everyone in every situation - and that's precisely the point! Every situation is different. No two projects are the same.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
