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“First Who ... Then What. We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats—and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage “People are your most important asset” turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”
“First Who ... Then What. We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats—and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage “People are your most important asset” turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”
- Jim Collins, Good to Great
- Jim Collins, Good to Great
Successful leaders surround themselves with the right people in the right jobs and manage them to drive strategy toward goals and through exceptions. This means we hire, value, advance, educate, and retain those who adhere to the core values in our mission and practice them throughout their work, over time and across activities. Who in your organization should be moved up and who moved out?
HIRING
HIRING
People move on for their own reasons - and sometimes we need to move them on as well. Thus, it's helpful to always be on the lookout. Your Core Values will help you get right people, keep them, and in the right seats - you will hire less and less frequently.
A proper interview process always includes a thorough background check to see if the person who presents themself to you is the same as the person they present to others.
A proper interview process always includes a thorough background check to see if the person who presents themself to you is the same as the person they present to others.
We have found that a 3-stage interview works best:
We have found that a 3-stage interview works best:
Resumes to eliminate those who won't fit.
Resumes to eliminate those who won't fit.
Executive in-person interviews with direct boss and owner.
Executive in-person interviews with direct boss and owner.
Team - engage your team to meet one-on-one and in an informal group setting to help you choose. Emphasize core values throughout the process
Team - engage your team to meet one-on-one and in an informal group setting to help you choose. Emphasize core values throughout the process
We discovered that a team interview, designed as a friendly "break" with a cigar, frequently identified the right fit much better than I could do by myself.
We discovered that a team interview, designed as a friendly "break" with a cigar, frequently identified the right fit much better than I could do by myself.
You must explore Core Values. I like open-ended questions, some designed for easy responses, some designed to provoke on-the-spot thinking and natural responses in order to understand the candidate's Core Values and the match with ours.
You must explore Core Values. I like open-ended questions, some designed for easy responses, some designed to provoke on-the-spot thinking and natural responses in order to understand the candidate's Core Values and the match with ours.
Survey your candidates' fit to each of your Core Values by including each value in your open-ended questions. They must at least show comfort with, if not passion for all of them.
Survey your candidates' fit to each of your Core Values by including each value in your open-ended questions. They must at least show comfort with, if not passion for all of them.
You can only understand their work culture and style if you survey them - and let them tell you what work environment (Core Values) and job type they are comfortable doing, as well as how well they might fit in the organization. In this case, the owner (Architect profile - independent and high detail) worked well with the Ramrod sales manager (autonomy, extraversion and low detail). Click here for more information on Culture Index
You can only understand their work culture and style if you survey them - and let them tell you what work environment (Core Values) and job type they are comfortable doing, as well as how well they might fit in the organization. In this case, the owner (Architect profile - independent and high detail) worked well with the Ramrod sales manager (autonomy, extraversion and low detail). Click here for more information on Culture Index
A person whose acumen, experience and individual work culture matches the company is the right person to hire, train and retain. If they struggle, educate them or find a role better suited to them!
A person whose acumen, experience and individual work culture matches the company is the right person to hire, train and retain. If they struggle, educate them or find a role better suited to them!
Right Person / Right Seat
Right Person / Right Seat
Culture: Do they match the work profile for your company core values, the team and the job?
Culture: Do they match the work profile for your company core values, the team and the job?
Acumen: Do they understand the job? Do they have the ability to grow in it?
Acumen: Do they understand the job? Do they have the ability to grow in it?
Ability: Do they have mental, physical and behavioral capacity for the job?
Ability: Do they have mental, physical and behavioral capacity for the job?
Desire: Do they want to grow the job, to accomplish its goals and be accountable for the outcome?
Desire: Do they want to grow the job, to accomplish its goals and be accountable for the outcome?
RETAINING
RETAINING
Let Dan Pink explain why you may have been doing incentives and compensation wrong - all along. "When profit and purpose become unmoored, bad things can happen."
Let Dan Pink explain why you may have been doing incentives and compensation wrong - all along. "When profit and purpose become unmoored, bad things can happen."
People want Core Values - to know that their work matters, makes a difference and matches their own values.
People want Core Values - to know that their work matters, makes a difference and matches their own values.
People want to know the goal - who is are customer and what do they need? How does our solution help the customer? Why is it different, better? How will we be chosen to serve them? What do we need to support that?
People want to know the goal - who is are customer and what do they need? How does our solution help the customer? Why is it different, better? How will we be chosen to serve them? What do we need to support that?
In the above example, you can see how a job description becomes an action document, with responsibilities, authorities, and activities, or accountabilities. This is true autonomy with measures.
In the above example, you can see how a job description becomes an action document, with responsibilities, authorities, and activities, or accountabilities. This is true autonomy with measures.
In order to provide autonomy, you must give your employees authority over each of their responsibilities. Giving authority enables them to succeed, and naturally the opportunity to succeed also allows for failure. So then decide and agree, "what are the terms of failure?" At XIKAR, failure to the benefit of the customer was a training experience. Failure to the detriment of the customer was a correction opportunity.
In order to provide autonomy, you must give your employees authority over each of their responsibilities. Giving authority enables them to succeed, and naturally the opportunity to succeed also allows for failure. So then decide and agree, "what are the terms of failure?" At XIKAR, failure to the benefit of the customer was a training experience. Failure to the detriment of the customer was a correction opportunity.
Your "right people" will soon come to you with ideas - on how to improve, grow their area, the business. Insist on SMART goals so that you can define the authority, responsibility and accountability on a timeline. Better yet: ask your managers to do this themselves. They won't want to - until they determine that it is safe to do so.
Your "right people" will soon come to you with ideas - on how to improve, grow their area, the business. Insist on SMART goals so that you can define the authority, responsibility and accountability on a timeline. Better yet: ask your managers to do this themselves. They won't want to - until they determine that it is safe to do so.
Dan Pink's video demonstrates what drives knowledge workers. It isn't necessarily money. Nonetheless, people must get paid the going rate for their job in your geography. It is up to you to stay on top of this. You can also fund bonuses to the team for group success. However, I do not recommend individual monetary bonuses - they can easily be a disincentive: What if you give an individual bonus and your employee was expecting more? Or, what if you agreed on the bonus amount, and they expect it despite not achieving the agreed upon goal? What if one person gets a bonus while the team doesn't (often happens in sales where incentives on revenue can be easily misaligned with corporate profit goals).
Dan Pink's video demonstrates what drives knowledge workers. It isn't necessarily money. Nonetheless, people must get paid the going rate for their job in your geography. It is up to you to stay on top of this. You can also fund bonuses to the team for group success. However, I do not recommend individual monetary bonuses - they can easily be a disincentive: What if you give an individual bonus and your employee was expecting more? Or, what if you agreed on the bonus amount, and they expect it despite not achieving the agreed upon goal? What if one person gets a bonus while the team doesn't (often happens in sales where incentives on revenue can be easily misaligned with corporate profit goals).
Therefore, use monetary rewards for the whole team based on the company performance. Keep salaries in line with the job market, and reward employees for success through public recognition and / or a promotion.
Therefore, use monetary rewards for the whole team based on the company performance. Keep salaries in line with the job market, and reward employees for success through public recognition and / or a promotion.
Incentive Pay: Warning
Incentive Pay: Warning
A note on Incentive pay: I am not a fan of individual incentives, because they can easily misalign with other team or corporate goals. However, where you must, here are some guidelines
Ensure your incentives align with all of the individual's authorities and corporate goals. A bonus for gross margin gain achieved instead of revenue gain is a better measure for sales people who have the authority to give discounts of any kind. The same is true for the Marketing team who can give promos. (Be sure to include a modifier if they exceed their advertising budget!)
People should not be penalized for things outside their control – for example the Sales and Marketing teams miss a bonus because ops expense rose dramatically.
In the above examples, I am sure you see the problem, the reason why I believe in entire company incentives: what happens if one department makes its goal but the company doesn't? Is it fair to pay a bonus in that case? It certainly isn't fair to the owners!
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