Hiring at the Senior Level: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

Our Managing Director Rana Hein-Hartmann, with over 15 years in the business, takes some time to fill us in on her latest insights and provide us with 5 of her Top Mistakes to Avoid when hiring at the Senior Level.

I recently met an old friend, who'd made an exciting?leadership?move into one of the most interesting non-financial organisations around today. I was keen to catch up, to hear about how it was going.

Only it wasn't. She was about to resign.

Shocked, I wondered how this fantastic firm could get it wrong? A lot of the time, companies tend to make the same mistakes when?hiring Senior.

Here are my TOP 5 mistakes people make when hiring Senior:

1. Giving the responsibility, without giving the power. ??

Please don’t waste the efforts of this brilliant person, and delay the future success of your firm, by hiring them to do a job, and then not giving the team or budget to make the project fly. You want the best? You've got to back them. Find out what their plan is, by all means, but don't give sky-high objectives on a shoestring budget.

2. Don't expect miracles. ??

Remember you are hiring a mortal person! Companies (especially listed businesses it seems) love a good 100 day plan. And it's important, having a plan. But plans have to be flexible in the way of unseen circumstances, if you're pushing that person harder than they can be pushed, they will only leave. Amazing performers don't like failure, they will hate it as much as you. So if you believe in them, be patient.

3. Not doing their homework before investing. ????

It amazes me how much some firms will throw behind an idea without even checking it out first. Try to break your own idea. I mean, really try. Smart firms reflect deeply before investing, the larger the project, the deeper the research. If you don't have the time to know, pay a consulting firm to tell you what you need to know. It will pay off.

4. Lack of coherence in strategy across the firm. ??

Like when companies hire 3 senior roles at the same time, without thinking about how those points connect. Or, when companies are not articulating to staff which strategies are their leading ones, resulting in confusion across the firm. It’s not the job of the new hire to set the overall strategy, only the CEO can do that. And not setting strategy will not result in success of anything. Be clear, so that your staff can work accordingly. ?

5. Making a great person's remit too large. ??

Great people attract more responsibilities, it happens slowly but surely, but it's as sure as breathing. The thing is though, you really want them focused on the most valuable work, the things you know others cannot do. There are still only 24 hours in a day. Use them wisely

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These issues appear time and again, even in great companies, because all amazing companies (and people!) do make mistakes at times, and that is OK. It's a journey.

I’m following this up with the TOP 5 things you should do when hiring senior. Stay tuned ??

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