Chicago Bears on how NOT TO HIRE!
Steven Burks, PhD
Trusted & Effective Talent Recruiter - Growth Oriented Technology Companies (Specialty Chemicals, Minerals, Metals, Polymers, Fermentation, Batteries, Electronics, Food Ingredients) ([email protected])
Growth Focused CEO Newsletter?
(Practical Steps for Success)
Newsletter 2/2/22
Lessons from the Chicago Bears on how NOT TO HIRE!
As a long time, Chicago Bears Football fan, I followed the stories of their recent hiring of a new General Manager and Head Coach with interest. As I watched the process unfold in the online press, I was amazed at what was happening. While I openly admit that stories in the press are often inaccurate, misleading, and full of nonsense; I think CEO’s can learn something from what I observed as a casual observer and fan by reading the sports pages.
“George, based on the presser all we can do is hope they Bears front office catches lighting in a bottle. All we could do is expect for them to get lucky and get it right” (1)
1.????What do the Chicago Bears want to hire someone for?
The Chicago Bears can easily say we want to win the Super Bowl. But that is not the answer.
“There is no real consensus on what the Chicago Bears need to do at GM. The Bears are trying to be thorough, but who can blame them? (1)
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there, and that’s kind of what it sounds like,” Lombardi said about the search. (6)
“They all seem to fit a certain type the Chicago Bears are looking for. Experienced, tough, and leaders of men. The big key will be obvious. Showing that they have a viable plan for developing Justin Fields into a successful quarterback.” (2)
“More than scheme or results, Eberflus brings with him a reputation of being a good developer of young players and a leader. That's not to diminish what his defenses have done, though.” (5)
KEY TAKE AWAY - When you hire, hire with a defined purpose. Determine what do you want the person to specifically accomplish in their role (in years 1, 2, 3, 4) and hire someone who has past experience producing those specific results.
2.????How many candidates should you interview?
“The Chicago Bears weren’t kidding when they said the evaluation process for their GM and head coaching positions would be thorough and exhaustive. On the coaching front alone, they’re confirmed to have requested interviews with nine different candidates.” (2)
“The Bears have been linked to 15 general manager candidates and have put in a request to interview Ryan Poles, the current Kansas City Chiefs executive director of player personnel, a second time.” GM Candidate: It’s Hard to Know How Serious They’re Taking You’ (5)
?“Then again, it's easy to see why Bears fans feel like they're sitting around waiting for white smoke to emerge from the chimney of Halas Hall.” (1)
KEY TAKE AWAY – Plan on initially interviewing three people based you’re your clear screening criteria. Tying up your leadership team’s time costs you real money. Using clear selection criteria improves and simplifies your process to enable success.
3.?????Candidates have choices!
“All of this said, the Bears are working against a clock as many of their candidates are being considered for jobs elsewhere, too. For example, Ryan Poles is a GM candidate for three teams. “There is also the back-channel drama of Jim Harbaugh to consider.” (1)
KEY TAKE AWAY – Superstars join organizations that make decisions quickly!). If a superstar candidate does not get the indication the offer is coming in 48 hours after the interview your chances of hiring them goes down significantly every day that passes.
4.?????Hire for personality or someone who interviews well?
“This is not to say McCaskey doesn’t have certain fantasies about a nostalgia option like Frazier or bringing in guys with Super Bowl rings like Bowles or Flores. The thing to remember here is things change fast when candidates are able to get in front of teams. All it takes is somebody to nail their interview for everything to change. This is what happened back in 2018 with Nagy. He wasn’t considered a favorite for the job at the time. When the Bears brass met him though, he made a terrific sales pitch. Just 24 hours later he had the job.” (2)
“According to Lombardi, the Bears’ selection/hiring committee isn’t asking candidates the right types of questions. Structure, to me, is so important, Lombardi said. “I think the guy who becomes the general manager of a team has to have the broader picture of how to build a team.” (6)
“The questions should be: How do you visualize the Chicago Bears looking in three years? What kind of players are we going to draft? What will the grading scale look like? What kind of team do we want to build? What is the most important position in a salary cap structure? Those are the kind of questions … from talking to people that have had interviews in there, that’s not necessarily the way it’s going.” (6)
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Matt become the next head coach of the Chicago Bears,”?said Poles, whom the Bears hired Tuesday. “His experience, passion, character and attention to detail made him the right man for both the job and the culture we intend to establish here at Halas Hall. Throughout the search, Matt impressed me when detailing his vision and plan for our team. (8)
KEY TAKE AWAY – Hire people that can bring you results that have complimentary personalities with demonstrated past performance and leadership skills. CEO’s often hire leadership team members who have the same personality as themselves. They hire the candidates that have the right interview presence and perfected answers. Interviewing well is expected but hire someone who has demonstrated in their past they have the skill sets in performance, personality, and leadership?that will take your organization to the Super Bowl.
5.????Interview Team
“Bears chairman George McCaskey laid out his plan Monday afternoon, hours after firing general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy. The Bears have created a panel of five individuals who will oversee the hiring process for both positions. That process will begin immediately. Four of the individuals on the panel are full-time employees of the team, while another is an outside advisor.
Ultimately, the decision will fall on McCaskey to hire the right general manager and the right coach. George McCaskey is the Bears’ chairman and the team’s top decision maker. Ted Phillips has been the team’s president since 1999. His role primarily focuses on the business side of the organization. “ (4)
领英推荐
“Bill Polian - Now there is no GM to help, just Bill Polian, and as an advisor he hasn't been in the league since 2012.” (1)?
“LaMar “Soup” Campbell has been the Bears’ director of player engagement since 2017. In his current role with the Bears, Campbell helps players navigate life on and off the field. “(4)
“Tanesha Wade is the Bears’ senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. She previously worked as the team’s director of events and entertainment. She’s just getting her feet under her in her new role as senior vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” McCaskey said.” (4)
KEY TAKE AWAY – Makes sure you have the right people on the interview team who can ask the right questions. The Chicago Bears Interview team lacked the in-depth football knowledge that I would expect for these hires. The addition of football talent and organization experts should have been involved. The Chicago Blackhawks have added three hockey experts to their interview and evaluation team in their GM search which is a very smart move. It is a great idea for CEOs to add some trusted advisors to your interview team! ?
6.????Key Goal
“The Chicago Bears Need To Hire An Experienced Play-Caller To Develop Justin Fields”?(3)
“Bears Have Poor Experience Entrusting First-time Play-Callers. The 2021 search will be the third time since 2004 that Chicago will be looking to hire a new head coach with a second-year first-round quarterback. With the current head coaching search for the Bears, one of the most significant aspects for a coaching hire will be to develop Fields at the quarterback position. Whether it’s a head coach with an offensive background or an offensive coordinator hired by a defensive head coach, either will need to have prior play-calling experience to avoid the mistakes made by the last Bears’ coaches.” (3)
“Justin Fields Is The Future Of This Franchise … Why Would You Go And Hire A Defensive Coordinator? The?Chicago Bears?have hired?Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus as their next head coach. An interesting choice, given that defense hasn’t been the Bears’ problem. They ranked 13th in DVOA this past season and eighth the year before. The Bears were 26th this season in offensive DVOA. There are 32 teams in the league. (8)
The Chicago Bears new coaching staff is starting to fill out under Matt Eberflus. To fill the offensive coordinator role, Eberflus picked Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Luke Getsy. Getsy will be a first-time play caller at NFL level.?Getsy had a good relationship with Aaron Rodgers and was a former college quarterback at Akron. (9)
KEY TAKE AWAY – Don’t forget what the number one goal is for your organization to succeed.?The Chicago Bears continued to repeat their previous failures of not hiring an NFL experienced play caller. UGH!
The Results
After interviewing 13 candidates, Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey determined Poles will be the one to turn the Bears into Super Bowl contenders. Whether he pulls that off, remains to be seen. Poles’ hiring is making franchise history as he is the first minority general manager for the Bears.
It sure feels like the Bears are doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. That happens to be one definition for insanity. (7)
I hope this real-life example of the Chicago Bears interview process illustrates how organizations, CEO’s and Business Owners can still improve how they hire. If you would like to discuss how to evaluate and improve your hiring process so you are not like the Chicago Bears and leaving a good hire up to chance schedule some time to talk with the author directly ?https://calendly.com/burkssearch/60min?! If you are George McCaskey and Bears Management I would be happy to help you improve your search process next time!
Citations
(5)?https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/why-did-bears-hire-matt-eberflus/pth73g9gqa5b1rj2ue1wfaaym
(9)?https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-hire-luke-getsy-offensive-coordinator-things-to-know/
Copywrite by Burks Search - Sanford Rose Associates - Crystal Lake?
Author - Steven J. Burks, PhD CEO
Burks Search - Sanford Rose Associates - Crystal Lake
HUNT SCANLON TOP 10 U.S./AMERICAS SEARCH FIRMS - #9
Strategy Execution | Performance Management | Thought Leader
3 年Wonderful and valuable message! BTW - as a fellow Bears fan - please help them
Plastics/Polymer Consultant; Product R&D, Innovation, Bus. Dev. & IP Optimization; Specializes in Chemistry of Interface
3 年As a fan of the Chicago Bears since 1979, when I first moved to Chicagoland, you are absolutely right, Steve! Too bad they don’t hire you as a consultant on how to conduct the whole process of hiring the GM and HC!