How to hire (or not)…as a Mobility Design Leader and Manager

In my last post , I shared some thoughts about the development of leaders and mangers within in the Mobility Design space.

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With good leadership and management also comes a strong understand of how to hire the right people into the right positions.

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Now to make this a bit clearer what I mean by that, here is an example of what we regularly observe when new studios are created. This happens anywhere in the world, and I am sure a few of you have come across this as well. The principle applies to almost every other hiring process and within all functions in the mobility design work place. The creation of a new studio shall only give us a little use case.

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The vast majority selects “The Easy Way”

The principle: Hire who and what you know, make your life easy. Looking for as little challenge as possible. Hiring for a job not a role. Only short-term focus, no long-term outlook, no hiring strategy.

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This is the most common way that hires are being made. And to be fair, it is very much understandable. One comes into a new job, the pressure to deliver quickly might be high so one relies on what one knows. You know what you get, and this can be very comforting and of course also quite quick. So, a proper hiring strategy is not necessarily required or even wanted. Just get the job done.

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Speaking of job: This is one of the biggest problems in the “Easy Way”. The definition of what the new hires will do. They are hired to fulfil a job (such as a first vehicle). That’s all great but that is nothing long-term. There is usually no plan to what this job can develop into. Hiring for a “role” with responsibilities, expectations, development potential etc is generally not happening.

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Summary: this is a very short-sighted solution focusing on delivering very specific outcome while being highly volatile. Longevity is usually not happening here, and we have observed many studios being “re-structured” and having various hiring and firing waves in the process to accommodate the development of the department. Studios also tend to hire a lot of people to cater for specific topics as the have to adjust on-the-go with no planning.

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A selected few “Leave the comfort zone…a bit”

The principle: The most important positions are hired with people that are close to the leader, below that is a more open process. Top positions hired for job, lower positions for role. Short term success with Mid-to-Long-Term outlook. Basic hiring strategy.

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This usually happens quite regularly with managers and leaders who already have changed companies in the past. They have realised that there is a lot of talent in the mobility design world and this talent needs to be given a chance. At the same time, they would like to create a “trusted circle” to achieve both the short and mid-term goals – the long-term goals are not really regarded.

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Here we can already see a basic design hiring strategy that is based on the company strategy and direction. Not necessarily towards the “trusted circle” which is very much based on “job” expectation from above but oriented towards the lower positions on a Senior or Junior level which are then more related to the “role”.

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Summary: This is much more stable but still with some volatility. Much depending on the manager and leaders experience in the past after changing jobs. The job security is on a much higher level as the build-up is better planned and executed, therefore much less re-structuring and fluctuation.

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The absolute best reach for “The Maximum”

The principle: Full focus on hiring the best mid-to-long term solution, strategic hiring for long-term success, strong hiring strategy. Hiring top to bottom. Can be requiring a lot of time investment. All hired for “role” not just “job”. Temporary solution in place (such as contractors, agencies etc) to build for long-term success.

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This is unfortunately very rare and requires a very strong relationship with the CEO or direct report above.

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Building a mobility design from scratch that is aimed to be an integral part of the company direction and decision making requires a long-term hiring strategy and plan. This rarely happens simply due to time constraints and expectations, but it is possible.

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It would first require having a temporary solution in place that allows to buy the time required to hire the best possible people for the “role”. This direction sees the “job” as temporary and the “role” as the core of the future outcome.

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Whereas in the other 2 approaches we see hiring for any position at almost any time, “The Maximum” is top down, planned and strategic. This is usually also combined with a very strong development function that allows people to know and explore already if they would want to move towards a managerial or expert route.

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It doesn’t mean that hirings can be close and well known to the leader or manager but they are selected very specifically for the “role. This also means that there is a strong focus on the Quality and we have seen this being usually studios that don’t explode in employee numbers.

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Summary: The most stable and most long-term oriented solution. Usually a very high employee satisfaction, clear direction and communication. Fluctuation is little and additions to the team are highly selection and based on quality over quantity.

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I would like to add that of course it is not as simple as say there is only these three approaches. There are mixes of them and everyone has their own style.

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But these are directions that I am sure many of you have also experienced in your career? So which one was the most common? What did you like about any of these approaches?

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Comment and we’ll discuss a bit further.