Raising the Talent Bar: How the Most Innovative Leader Hire and Develop the Best

The most innovative leaders have a notoriously high hiring bar. They have the courage to hire people who may be smarter than themselves. They don’t look for a body to fill an open seat, they look for people who won’t be satisfied to do the same job day after day. They look for people who will challenge the status quo and make everyone better.

But it’s not enough to just hire the right people. You must create an environment where talent can learn, adapt, and grow. You must take specific actions to ensure that everyone learns from new hires and that they’re equipped to have a long and successful career contributing to the organization’s continued success.

If you’re a manager, developing your team is in your own best interest, and in the long-term interest of the organization. Development of others should be considered part of your “day job” … not something left over after the work is done. When your people improve, so will your products, processes, and the impact on your customers. Short-term investment in developing your top talent will pays off exponentially.

As a manager, you may be tempted to hold on to people who could benefit from exposure to other parts of the organization. The most innovative leaders recognize that helping individuals grow is always in the best interest of the company. Letting a strong performer move to another team not only helps their career grow, but it often makes room for other members to step up and stretch themselves.

If you’re an individual contributor, take the time to develop yourself. Take advantage of learning opportunities to grow and find ways to make your job more productive, efficient, and fun. Hold your manager accountable for providing challenging work that stretches you and helps you grow, but don’t let yourself be held back if that doesn’t happen. Ultimately, your career is your responsibility.

Top 10: You know you're raising the talent bar when....

1. Your team is stretched appropriately. They do things they didn’t think possible at the beginning; Low performers self-select out; Expectations are communicated clearly, and feedback is quick.
2. Regardless of where employees work, you are available to coach and mentor them. You grow others inside and outside your organization.
3. You hire based on the company’s core competencies and principles over just technical expertise.
4. You look for candidates who raise the bar and bring up the overall performance of the team and company – people who set new standards.
5. You’re comfortable rotating people. You’re a net exporter of talent once people are developed. You look for good opportunities for existing teams, as well as to develop those around the team.
6. Based on the conversation with employee, you appropriately set goals with employee consensus.
7. You guide employees to the right results. You conduct periodic one-on-one follow-ups to provide feedback and reasonably detailed suggestions.
8. You develop your team and others with a specific focus on developing top performers.
9. You assess strengths, with an eye toward demonstrated achievements and potential. You avoid excessive focus on weakness.
10. You hire people that scare you because they could do your job; Hire bigger!

When hiring new talent, the most innovative leaders ask, “Is this candidate better than 50% of the people on board today.” They have courage to hire people they think are smarter than themselves, who can do things that are going to change the way the organization thinks about the business, customers, and the opportunities ahead. It's really all about stretching yourself. Don't accept the status quo, be proactive, be an owner of the business, learn, and advance. Talk with your team about their goals, share experiences with others, and intentionally carve out time to develop the best.