Interview Process
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Personnel Development, Servant Leader
When it is all said and done all potential employees will be evaluated under the two broad categories of character and competency. The more important of the two is character because you can help most people through training to improve their skill set but you may never be able to overcome who they are as a person.
Once you have narrowed the number of resumes down to the people that you may be interested in it is very helpful to conduct an initial phone interview. It is very important to learn how to ask open ended questions that will allow the person to talk beyond the typical scripted answers. As quickly as possible find out what they are passionate about and what they are capable of doing.
The next step is to send them a series of questions and assessment tools that will give you an even clearer understanding of the person’s strengths and personality tendencies. This should be compared to a very detailed reference resource form that looks for the not so obvious information. A good question might be if you were to see them in a totally different field of work what would it be and why?
By the time you get to a face to face interview the issue is more about character and chemistry than it is competency. I have found it very beneficial to involve other team members in this process to see how they read the fit for our organizational culture.
I would never hire anyone for any kind of significant role without first meeting their spouse. Seeing a couple interact with each other can tell you a lot about the person. Probably one of the most important things to do is get the person in several casual settings where they will not have their game face on and you can listen and observe how they interact with other people.
This entire process could take several months but remember the only thing worse than not having a position filled is to have it filled with the wrong person. When in doubt move on to the next person because as a leader your gut is probably right.
Practicing Feedforward
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Personal Development, Personnel Development
Almost every serious organization uses some form of feedback to evaluate the performance of their top leadership team. This usually works best in a 360 type environment where the person receives feedback from superiors, peers and subordinates as well.
The concept of feedforward was developed by Marshall Goldsmith in his best seller What Got You Here Won’t Get You There about how to coach senior executives. He encourages every leader to identify core behaviors that need to change through feedback. Then apologize for your mistake and commit to change that character quality in the future.
The primary way he recommends to accomplish this is through the four disciplines in feedforward:
1. Identify Target Behavior—choose the one behavior that your colleagues have told you about that you consider to be at the top of your list for change. The number one issue among the thousands of people he has worked with is to be a better listener.
2. Enlist Accountability Partners—the key here is to secure a personal commitment from as many people as possible to help you in this particular area. This should include family members as well as various levels of people within the organization where you work. They will all commit to help you focus on this one specific area and help you with ongoing feedback.
3. Solicit Specific Suggestions—ask everyone in your accountability circle for at least two suggestions that might help you achieve a positive change in your selected behavior. The key ground rule here is that there should be no mention of mistakes in the past but every comment is about the future.
4. Practice Active Listening—take appropriate notes if necessary but make sure you are really listening to each and every suggestion to the point that you can put it into practice. Also it is very important regardless of the quality of the input to be sure to graciously thank everyone involved who will take the time and emotional risk of telling you what you really need to hear.
Law Of The Inner Circle
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Personnel Development, Servant Leader
This by far is one of the most important principles identified by John Maxwell in the realm of leadership. The simple definition of the law is that a leader’s potential is determined by those closest to them.
As any organization continues to grow the leader cannot continue to spend equal time with every person on staff because of time constraints alone. This means that eventually the majority of a leader’s time will be need to be spent with the top 20% of their leadership team.
It is a proven leadership principle that they in turn will produce at least 80% of the desired results because of the scope of their impact throughout the entire organization. The leader is incredibly dependent upon this inner circle because they are responsible for providing the best information possible upward for decision making and they are also responsible for the downward execution of all planning.
Leaders of large organizations should still spend some time managing by walking around and maintain some personal contact with all levels of staff. However the purpose of this interaction is for personal encouragement and visibility and not for problem solving and day to day decision making. The leader can be involved to some degree with everyone but they must invest themselves only in the inner circle because they are the key to continued growth and outstanding performance.
Pull The Trigger
Filed under: Crisis Management, Leadership Callling, Leading Change, Personnel Development
There may be nothing harder to do as a leader than make the decision to terminate an employee. To be honest we feel to some degree we have failed and that is hard to accept.
This is especially true if we hired the person in the first place. Not only have they failed but now our performance as a leader may be in question also. We cannot let our own emotional need for personal success stand in the way of doing what is right for the organization.
There are three critical things that I must do as a leader before I feel that my responsibility has been completed prior to any termination. The first is to provide clear expectations of what is required in their job description. It is impossible for someone to meet your expectations if they have not been clearly communicated early and often.
The second important thing is to make sure the person has had adequate training and resources to complete their job successfully. It is not fair to ask someone to grow a particular area and not give them the financial and manpower assets they need to be effective.
The last issue for me is a comprehensive and ongoing feedback system that lets a person know exactly where they stand in the area of performance. It is not right to see someone make mistakes day after day and stick your head in the sand hoping it will go away only to drop a bomb on them at annual review or even worse an unexpected termination. If you do not have the leadership skills to positively confront someone about what they are doing wrong then you may be the one in the wrong job and not them.
If you have done all of these three things well and given this person every opportunity to improve and they don’t then you should feel no guilt or sense of failure. Never obsess on the five to ten percent of your staff that may need to go every year. What is extremely important is to remember the ninety to ninety five percent who are doing their jobs well and are watching to see if you have the character as their leader to pull the trigger.
Coaching
Filed under: Core Values, Leadership Callling, Life Balance, Personal Development, Personnel Development, Servant Leader
If you need help in making some major decisions in your life coaching may be exactly what you need. There are many types of coaches available from executive, life, fitness and even spiritual.
The one major thing you need to understand about coaching is that it is not counseling or therapy. The major focus will not be your past and the things that have gone wrong but the future and how you want it to look.
Great coaches don’t have the answers to all your questions. Their role is to help you by knowing how to ask the right questions so you can see why you may be stuck and what your options are as you move forward.
A coach might ask, What is the one major area in your life you would like to change that would improve your life? Then, What do you want that area to look like six months from now? Finally, What do you need to do this week to start closing that gap?
Another important aspect of coaching is accountability. It really helps when you have someone who is on your side and offers the necessary what do you want to accomplish before our next time together type questions.
With this accountability comes encouragement that reminds you of what you said you wanted to do to change your life and gives you the confidence that you can make it happen.
My experience in using a coach was incredible. So what are you waiting for give them a no charge to you first call and see if it feels like a good fit.
Clock Building Not Time Telling
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Leading Change, Personnel Development, Servant Leader
The days of all decisions being made solely at the top with a few people involved are fading fast. Throughout the Industrial Age of leadership during the last half of 20th century this was the only model of leadership. The overwhelming percentage of the workforce was for the most part simply telling time based on the clear instructions that were given for them to follow.
Today we are leading from an Information and Idea Age model of leadership. The entire development process has been delegated to various teams so that everyone who can contribute will be involved. In essence people are now being asked to help build the clock.
Most people think the changing role of the top executives is by far the most dramatic shift that has occurred. In a sense of scope that may be true. Key leaders today do not have to know all the answers to all the questions they only need to know what are the right questions to ask?
There primary responsibility today is to make sure they have the best possible people on their team because the quality and success of the clocks they are making will determine the future success of the entire organization.
The most dramatic shift in leadership today certainly from a standpoint of scale is not at the top but in the middle of organizations. There is a big difference in telling time compared to building clocks. Today people are daily being asked what do you think and what would you recommend?
Many organizations are caught in the middle of this transition and seem to be stuck. The problem could be that you are asking people who only know how to tell time to build clocks and they are not capable of making that change. Don’t give up on clock building just find the right people who know how to build great clocks and you will be fine.
Networking
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Personnel Development, Servant Leader
The old mindset was your success depends upon how many people you know. Today the most important thing is how many people are you helping.
The focus has shifted to some degree because of the culture created through the use of social media. The motivating factor behind most people is how can I help others be successful by giving them information that will be helpful.
It is just as important to be willing to ask other people for help as well. A true network works then because of the dynamics created because of mutual need. This in essence is the difference between someone being merely a contact in your database compared with a person in your life.
Make no mistake; serious business is taking place here. However, that is a natural result of working with people you like and respect and not using other people to get what I want.
Never Eat Alone is a great book written by Keith Ferrazzi. He hates what he calls networking jerks. If you don’t want to come across as one here are few things he says you must never do:
Don’t schmooze
Don’t rely on the currency of gossip
Don’t come to the party empty-handed
Don’t treat those under you poorly
Be transparent
Don’t be too efficient
What we can do is to have a desire to genuinely add value to other people and by doing so knowing we will have made a difference.
Team Operating Principles
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Personnel Development, Servant Leader
The first thing I look for in putting together any team is the right chemistry for the particular task at hand. If the team is responsible for completing a construction project I need expertise and great project managers. When the assignment is to create a new vision statement I want very creative people that are willing to think outside the box.
One of the best books on team building is The Performance Factor by Pat MacMillan. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Team Resources Inc. an international consulting firm specializing in organizational and team development.
Regardless of the team dynamics and the task assignments there should be some guiding principles that give direction to all teams. The following list from MacMillan is the best one I have found and creates an environment of mutual respect that drives participation and performance:
1. We are open and honest with one another.
2. We treat each other with dignity and respect.
3. We listen to and respect each other’s ideas and opinions.
4. We hold confidences.
5. We honor our commitments.
6. We support and invest in each other’s development.
7. We routinely critique our processes.
8. We have fun.
If the team leader can model and get everyone to buy into these principles then the potential for a great outcome has dramatically increased. When teams often break down it has very little to do with the task at hand but with the way members communicate and relate to each other.
Circle of Influence
Filed under: Leadership Callling, Life Balance, Personal Development, Personnel Development
Several years ago Stephen Covey wrote one of the all time best selling leadership books The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a book that I have read several times and refer to often.
The first habit in the book is to be proactive and take responsibility for leading our own lives. He writes, “It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values.”
One of the most practical tips for doing this on a daily basis is what he calls the circle of concern in our lives vs. the circle of influence. The circle of concern represents all the things we really care about but have no control over to change the outcome. If we are not careful we can spend most of our day here with nothing to show for all the emotional effort.
The circle of influence though contains all the things that are important to us as well but we do have the ability to control the outcome. When we focus on what we cannot control during the day that just means there were many things that should and could be done that were not.
The amazing thing about this principle is that the more you prioritize the things you can do and start accomplishing them the things you cannot control proportionally diminish in their importance.
When we are doing the things we know we should do it not only allows us to accomplish something but it also gives us the needed perspective to deal with all the things that are beyond our control.
To quote another Covey principle: WIN WIN
Good People Are Everything
A few years ago Mark DeMoss wrote a great book called The Little Red Book of Wisdom. He shares the personal and professional core values that helped him develop one the most successful Public Relations firms in the country.
Just as Jim Collins did in Good to Great and Jack Welch in Winning he drives home the most important asset for any organization are the people who work there. He states in one chapter, “the implication is that in business, how you treat your people trumps what you do with your clients, schedules, output, and spreadsheets.”
He believes there are four major motivators in attracting and retaining the best of the best.
1. The first is mission—People need to totally buy in to the big thing your company is all about.
2. The second is a good leader—Not the smartest or the brightest but someone who knows where they want the organization to go and has the character to lead.
3. The third motivator is corporate culture—This aspect is especially important to the next generation workforce because they must have an environment that is participatory and not highly directive.
4. The forth factor is compensation and benefits—This goes way beyond the basics to giving special recognition to best people who over time earn up to six weeks of paid leave and a $10,000 bonus.
For years everyone thought the most important decisions a leader had to make was What their organization needed to do in the area of products and marketing. Now the focus has shifted to Who are the people on your team. Get the right people and they will help you define the What, How, When and Where.