Hiring for the Future, Not Just for the Present

There are inherent Catch 22’s in the system.?

·???????? Some companies have the luxury of only hiring people with years demonstrated experience.? Even so, the hiring for those companies is competitive.?

·???????? Most job posts also seek people who have already demonstrated that experience.?

·???????? Very few people have all the required experience listed.?

·???????? Not all companies have the culture and talent infrastructure to support use of and development of top talent.?

For candidates, this creates a conundrum – especially in a Buyer’s market (favoring the companies).? How do you build to where you can get that demonstrated experience if it is not also possible to get a foot in the door . . . at a salary you can afford??

For companies, this creates a different conundrum.? How to develop the organization to attract top talent (or additional top talent) and retain top talent once acquired?? ??

Is there a solution to this??

Recently, I read different versions about how to build organizations, one primarily through promoting and hiring, another primarily focusing on leadership development.? Both focus on developing the desired future based on how you develop your organization today.?

Below I summarize aspects of these two perspectives then compare them to my experience followed by some additional comments.? I then attempt to combine these views from my perspective into some takeaways.?

Patty McCord and Hiring Now for the Future

Patty McCord, author of Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility and Co-Creator of the Netflix Culture Deck, states the following in Powerful:

“You’ve got to hire now the team you wish to have in the future.”

This is in the context of looking ahead, defining your desired future state, then working backward to identifying whether your existing team has what you need as per the following quote from the same chapter (Chapter 5, “Build the Company Now that You Want to be Then”):

“The basic problem is that most people start with the team they have, thinking, We’ll do more, and we’ll be amazing.? The thing is, if you start with the team you have, sure you can do more, but it won’t necessarily be amazing.? Instead, build the ideal team by starting with the vision down the road.? Identify the problem you want to solve, the time frame in which you want to solve it, the kinds of people who will be successful at that, and what they need to know how to do, then ask yourself, What do we need to do to be ready and able, and whom do we need to bring in?

McCord makes the distinction that talented. experienced people can do far more than novices in much less time and suggests considering the trade-off.? She also makes the following points:

1)????? You may have talented people who can do the job, but not the time for them to figure out how.?

2)????? Hire from the outside if you do not have people on the inside with the demonstrated ability or the aptitude.

3)????? Hire for people who have already done similar elsewhere vs train and coach without guarantees.? You cannot afford someone pursuing trial and error solutions similar to a start-up environment.

4)????? Establish a talent pipeline within your hiring base, internally and externally.?

5)????? Your talented people will become evident.

John Maxwell on Leadership Development

Maxwell, in The Leader’s Greatest Return: Attracting, Developing, and Multiplying Leaders, defines how leadership is developed and how to develop a culture of continuous leadership development at all levels.?

Both Maxwell and McCord see the need to cull for the best talent and creating an environment where that has the best chance of success.? Like McCord, Maxwell recommends hiring internally unless you do not have the skills internally.?

There are various ways Maxwell appears to differ from McCord.?

McCord stresses Leadership openly modeling the behavior they desire to see from the organization.? Maxwell places a large focus on mentorship and demonstrating behavior and traits that build your individual leadership credibility.?

Maxwell stresses developing a culture of leaders mentoring leaders so that your leadership pipeline is reproducing, expanding your impact.?

Maxwell describes identifying your leadership talent by inviting people to your figurative “leadership table”, where in interaction with established leaders and other potential leaders, your most talented leaders will stand out by the things they say and do while also getting opportunities to learn leadership in interaction with leaders.?

In a mentorship context, Maxwell places the onus of learning and development on the individual being mentored even while stressing the need for active learning from both parties in conversation.?

Maxwell describes a variety of things that build and maintain leadership credibility, among them integrity and authenticity.? Regarding talent and experience, Maxwell describes the “Law of the Lid” in terms of how people will only follow those they perceive to be ahead of them, so the abilities of the leader also limit how far the team will go.? As such, Maxwell also places the onus on those in leadership to continue their own leadership development process.???

Hiring well impacts both the individual and the manager.? Maxwell quotes Lou Holtz as stating “I’ve coached good players and I’ve coached bad players.? I’m a better coach with good players.”

Maxwell acknowledges that your own leadership development can be trial and error.? He advises creating an environment where people can learn from their experience, because experience is the best teacher and that comes from trying things, learning from them, getting back up, and applying the lessons learned.?

My Perspective

In my years in industry, including in turnaround situations, I have witnessed similar and different.? This informs my perspective.?

Regarding Talent Development?

·???????? Talented people can learn relatively quickly if open to change and hungry to learn. ?Some will not need a lot of guidance.?

·???????? Sometimes, the learning curve is indeed too large for time available.? In that case, the opportunity cost for choosing to develop talent can be large. ?

·???????? When people do not want to learn or be coached, the impact on the team can be large.?

·???????? Learning is facilitated by established processes whether the person is experienced or a novice.? Coaching is facilitated by knowing what good looks like.?

·???????? Sound judgment is best if developed and modeled vs prescribed.? People need to learn how to think.?

·???????? Every new role involves a learning curve – even if similar has been done before.?

·???????? If development is encouraged and rewarded, people will be less likely to entrench themselves and hide what they do not know.

·???????? Position your best people for success -- this matches Maxwell’s use of the 80/20 principle (Pareto Principle), where 80% of the work will be accomplished by 20% of the personnel.? NOTE: McCord also identifies that 80% of the work will be accomplished by 20% of the personnel.

·???????? If you are going to position your people for growth, also extend them the grace that allows for that growth.? This needs to be in the context of also setting expectations.?

·???????? The fear of making mistakes can prevent the risk taking necessary to lead.? Instead, encourage rapid learning.?

·???????? If you knowingly place your people in high-risk situations, do your part.? Also, show them grace if they fall short.? They did you and the company a favor.? Act like it.?

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Regarding the Learning and Development Environment

·???????? You are fortunate if you are in an environment that encourages learning.? You are also fortunate if you have opportunity to be mentored and coached.? Make the most of it.? Learning without those conditions requires more resilience and more fortitude.

·???????? The political environment influences the amount of grace available for learning.? ??

·???????? No one has it all together.? Your ability to learn on the job – whether through trial and error – is one thing that influences the progress you will make.?

·???????? Everyone has development needs.? Every new position comes either because someone is willing to give someone else a chance or because someone believes existing experience can be effectively applied in a different environment.???

·???????? Always practice.?

·???????? Your environment does influence your ability to achieve.? If possible, surround yourself with the attitudes and behaviors you want to demonstrate.? If not, create than environment for yourself or within your team.

·???????? Be or become the positive deviant, as an individual or as a group. ?If not possible, the longer you stay, the more you will adapt to the status quo.?

Regarding Building Your Team

·???????? Maxwell is right: demonstrating your confidence in people by your words and your actions does a lot for people’s performance.? Accomplishment in the absence of recognition requires a lot of fortitude.

·???????? McCord is also right: if you have not been developing your internal and external talent pipeline, you may find it difficult to find talented people when you need them.?

·???????? Sometimes people just need to see a path forward – to believe that what they are trying to accomplish is doable. This might require breaking down the steps into interim milestones.

·???????? Geography influences talent pool.? If you are in an area with little industry, it is harder to attract talent.? Your starting point for developing talent may be lower.?

·???????? Financial circumstances influence talent pool.? Your ability to hire qualified candidates may be limited.? Your starting point for developing talent may be lower.?

·???????? You may be stuck with poor talent depending on the political environment.? If so, you are responsible for making the most of it.?

Because the best talent have choices, incentives for attracting that talent may need to be personalized.?

Additional Thoughts

Define your hiring boundaries.

Per McCord, though established and experienced talent comes with a higher price tag, that same talent might be better equipped to lead your teams in the future.? McCord puts this in the perspective of paying people what they are worth because the ROI of doing so will likely be much higher than what you pay them.? McCord also tells a story that places this in the context of available budget.?

Even in a Buyer’s market, companies may be limited by the supply.? Why not hire for the demonstrated ability to learn and adapt, plus attitude?? For some criteria, the required knowledge base or experience is indeed essential from Day 1.? If not, a demonstrated track record of learning and adapting over time might be a good indication of what someone will do in the future.?

When supply is limited, you may be faced with a few choices:

·???????? Start developing talent internally overall as early as possible

·???????? Identify the high performers and those of high potential and invest heavily in their development?

·???????? Ensure you hire people with the ability to develop the talent pipeline

·???????? Hire for talent, for soft skills, attitude, fit, willingness to learn and be coached, and for transferrable skills.? Hire less for knowledge base.

These things seem worthwhile regardless.?

Developing your talent and leadership pipeline is essential whether your focus is organizational impact, renewal to remain competitive, addressing looming or in your face internal and external threats to the company, or organizational growth.? Maxwell’s reproduce leadership model intentionally contributes to this and captures this.?

As Maxwell describes, be more than willing to develop promising talent, with the right attitudes and the hunger to grow, who also demonstrate results along the growth curve.?

Maxwell describes spending 80% of your time developing people into the 20% of the people that will produce the highest return.? Maxwell makes a convincing case for the benefit of doing so at all levels of your organization, where the mentored leaders mentor other leaders.?

Be willing to act on not having the skill sets or behavior you need.?

This is one of Patty McCord’s key points.? She adds the need to terminate employees when their established skills sets are not what is needed to take the organization into the future.? This is especially useful given the pace of change in organizations and in markets.? McCord describes how to set things up where this is effective and where relationships are maintained in the process.?

I would add, if the employee does not demonstrate a desire or willingness to be part of what you are trying to build, you are better preserving the integrity of your team.? Be willing to cut your losses but know that you might be prevented by company politics.? Regardless, you will still be held accountable for team performance.?

In my mind, the following is also useful.?

Establish your expectations.? If your expectations change, acknowledge it, explain the change, and explain why.?

If the employee is not performing, look to yourself first.? Are you doing what is needed to help the employee succeed?? What is contributing to the performance level?? Are there small changes that can be made that will make a big difference??

If the employee is not performing, have you spoken with your employee about it?? Do they know how they are not performing??

Do not be surprised by defensiveness.? If employees already feel insecure in their position, defensive mechanisms will be employed.? We all do it.? If the employee demonstrates the opposite behavior, embrace their honesty as an opportunity to coach them.? If you punish people for admitting a weakness or a mistake you will lose credibility and risk the environment you are trying to create.?

Make up speed is important.? People naturally want to do well and meet expectations.? If someone recognizes they have not met expectations, if you give them the chance to make up the difference, most people will do what is necessary to make up the difference as quickly as possible.?

If it appears it will not be possible to meet expectations, continuing to perform as an individual or as a team requires internal fortitude.?

Acting on short-term financial needs can have long-term consequences.? Consider the alternatives. ?Be proactive.

If you are considering laying off your most talented people to reduce overhead, think twice.? As McCord puts it, less people who have more talent might get more done than more people with less talent.?

Per McCord, if you are thinking in terms of hiring for the future, also consider that even though established and experienced talent comes with a higher price tag, those same people might be better equipped to lead your teams in the future.? McCord puts this in the perspective of paying people what they are worth because the ROI of doing so will likely be much higher than what you pay them.? McCord also tells a story that places this in the context of available budget.?

Firing your more expensive talent to address short term financial targets decreases your economies of learning. As stated, McCord highlights how the talent on your team today might not be suited for the team you are trying to build for tomorrow and stresses the need to replace people that are no longer a fit.? That is different than replacing experienced talent with novice talent to decrease overhead.? ?

Leaning headcount when it is not needed is useful until it limits productivity. You want to right-size the organization.

Reducing headcount due to poor financial performance that was self-inflicted reduces the ability to proactively address circumstances causing your financial needs. It can also be the outcome of not addressing those things prior to their impact becoming significant. At that point your options are limited.

Take stock of what you have and where you are.

Perhaps what matters more – whether in your own development, in development of others, in team development, or in organizational development – is recognizing where you are now, defining where you want to go, and charting a flexible growth path.? That will likely require trade-off decisions.

This means playing the long game while also meeting your immediate needs.? Whether you are hiring internally or externally, maintain a growth mindset, build both a talent and leadership pipeline, and develop and maintain a learning environment.?? This takes time.? You must start from where you are today.? This will influence what you are able to do in the short term.? This will influence what you are able to do Tomorrow.

Talent is a form of equity.?? Talent without the supporting environment makes less of an impact.? Thus, organizational culture and a learning environment can also be a form of equity.?

Those who are hungry to grow want to work in environments that encourage and allow for it.? I have both witnessed it and experienced it.? Creating room for others to grow is highly rewarding.?

No one bats 1000.? No one even comes close.? The key is the ability to adjust and to learn and the willingness to be mentored and coached.

Hiring for the Future, Not Just the Present

You have all heard about the need to sometimes hold what appear to be two opposing truths at the same time.? When it comes to hiring vs development, it makes sense to address both.?

How to address these seemingly opposing factors?? Below are some options that make sense to me.? They align with both Maxwell and McCord, with Maxwell also emphasizing the learning environment and personal growth.?

Accept growth opportunities.

Because companies look for demonstrated experience, if you are offered a growth opportunity – especially with strong sponsorship and a learning environment – take it (other things considered).? Sometimes the growth experience itself is worthwhile.?

Growth begets more opportunities to grow.? Sponsored growth begets more opportunities for sponsored growth.? Without the sponsored growth, growth can take longer to develop on your own.

I have turned down significant growth opportunities in my past.? I had my reasons – some of them wise, some na?ve.? ?Those trade-offs have created a different, perhaps longer, path along the growth curve.? At the same time, I have learned things from experience I would not have learned otherwise so maybe I am wrong.?

This may also mean learning on the fly.? The more you grow, the more you can apply your existing growth to other situations, even ones you have never faced before.? But life experience states that no matter how prepared you think you are, you will still be surprised by what you face.? So it is useful to be entrepreneurial and get started after an amount of preparation and planning.

There is also the “Field of Dreams” concept.? ‘Build it and they will come.’? Knowledge becomes useful with the opportunity to apply it, whether directly or indirectly.? I have not yet found reason to regret my investment in learning. To paraphrase Maxwell, experience is the greatest teacher. ?However, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, make that experiential learning more effective and open up opportunities for growth.

Demonstrate organizational and individual responsiveness to change.

Organizations, similar to individuals, have a growth curve in terms of capabilities.? Aside from options for inorganic growth, if organizations are not also testing the environment with what is possible, the organization itself will not demonstrate the traits necessary to grow. ?

This goes against the natural human desire to protect the status quo when it is beneficial to you and on the surface is counterintuitive. It is also why companies that are doing well also need to see around the corner and act now to address the possible future. Sometimes, 'If it's not broke, don't fix it' is wise. Sometimes it is short-sighted.

Your top talent will already demonstrate personal investment in their growth.? If the organization does not demonstrate the willingness or propensity to grow, your top talent will be stifled and will recognize it early.?

Your top talent will cease to believe their contributions will be valued or become less willing to face the backlash to have a chance to succeed. ?

In an industry environment where the pace of change is increasing rapidly, finding qualified personnel may be difficult (and per McCord, quite necessary).? How do you develop the organizational ability to adapt to the change?? Hire well.? Develop or maintain a learning environment.? Develop a leadership pipeline. ?Demonstrate growth by example.?

McCord describes ways organizations can embrace the dialogue necessary to make better change decisions.?

How do you develop your own ability to adapt to the change?? Build resilience: the ability to adapt in the moment while keeping the end goal in mind.? Develop the types of skills sets that can be adapted across situations.? Learn how to think.? Be willing to face difficult situations.? Speak up.? Ask for help when you need it.? Learn to apply what you know.? Welcome the growth that comes from not doing things as well as you would have liked.? These things can be like peeling layers off an onion.? It can be difficult.?

Be willing to admit what you don’t know.? Be transparent about it.? This is counterintuitive.? Perhaps the most effective learner I have met is a very talented former colleague who would readily admit what she did not know vs hide behind posturing to cover it up.? This allowed her to absorb as much as possible from people willing to teach and coach and mentor her.? It also allowed for mutual trust.?

Adapt your hiring expectations.?

If no one bats 1000 – and if no one demonstrates all the experience you are looking for – hire for enough ability to build on what is.? I look at this similarly to language skills development.? Once you reach a certain level in most cases you can deduce what people are talking about if you do not know a certain word, quickly learn how to use it, and then quickly absorb that vocabulary into your lexicon.?

You do not have to know everything.? In this context, you need the ability to learn what you do not know quickly enough to apply it when you need it and be open to people guiding you in the right direction.?

There are people I would hire for most any role that utilized their abilities.? If you recognize that in someone, be willing to walk them through the growth process over time – both setting them up for success and challenging them.? They will surprise you.? As Maxwell describes, you will also learn from them.?

Recognize the hard realities of the work environment.

There are people who truly are limited or inhibited by their current role or their environment.?

·???????? I was told once that an organization was not ready for what I brought to the table, although I was encouraged to work through it.?

·???????? I have witnessed talented people squelched for reasons I did not like or understand.?

·???????? I have witnessed talented people valuing stability and safety over risking opportunities more to their liking.

·???????? I have witnessed sparks of greatness in people who would do far better in a different role that utilized their skill sets.?

In each case, decisions were made by multiple parties to the situation, and no one had a full view of the circumstances involved.? In each case, the motivations of each person played into the decisions made.?

Conclusion

You have heard the phrase regarding “not leaving money on the table”.? If talent is equity – whether yours or someone else’s - wasted talent is a big deal.? Wasted potential is also a big deal.? You have to address both.? Perhaps the above sheds light on this.?