‘Coach Kriengsak, today I want to discuss how I can find more of the right people,” Darin tells me. “I just finished reviewing last year’s performance by comparing three successful business units with two that performed poorly. The distinguishing factor was the quality of each unit’s leader. It’s clear to me that to achieve the company’s long-term vision, I need to replace those who weren’t the right people.”
“Khun Darin, what is the definition of the right people?” I ask
Darin draws my attention to How the Mighty Fall, in which author Jim Collins identifies six characteristics:
1. The right people fit with the company’s core values. Great companies build almost cult-like cultures, where those who do not share the institution’s values find themselves surrounded by antibodies and rejected like a virus. People often ask, “How do we get people to share our core values?” The answer: you don’t. You hire people who already have a predisposition to your core values, and hang on to them.
2. The right people don’t need to be tightly managed. The moment you feel you need to tightly manage someone, you might have made a hiring mistake. If you have the right people, you don’t need to spend a lot of time “motivating” or “managing” them. They’ll be driven to do the best they can because it’s simply part of their DNA.
3. The right people understand that they do not have “jobs”, they have responsibilities. The right people are the ones who can complete the statement, “I am the one person ultimately responsible for ...”
4. The right people fulfil their commitments. In a culture of discipline, people view commitments as sacred — they do what they say, without complaint. This also means they take great care in saying what they will do, careful to never overcommit or to promise what they cannot deliver.
5. The right people are passionate about the company and its work. Nothing great happens without passion.
6. The right people display “window and mirror” maturity. When things go well, the right people point out the window, giving credit to factors other than themselves; they shine a light on other people who contributed to the success and take little credit themselves. Yet when things go awry, they do not blame circumstances or other people; they point in the mirror and say, “I’m responsible”.
“That’s a good perspective, Khun Darin. Now, what is your specific concern today?”
“Coach, to replace the poor business unit leaders, I need to find the people who really match the core values of our organisation.”
“What actions do you plan to take?”
“Coach, earlier we hired a headhunter to source candidates for us. I think I need to find a new headhunter. The current one doesn’t really fit our culture.”
“Then what?”
“I want to change the way we interview the C-level candidates. In the past, I did it alone. For the new ones, I want to include other key individuals in our company who have good people judgment.”
“Khun Darin, looking at your team, who do you think are the role models for the ‘right people’?”
“I have three leaders who are great role models for this. I want at least one of them to get involved in the recruitment process — starting with choosing a new headhunter.”
“Who else are you thinking about in terms of expertise in selection?”
“I’d like to invite Khun Niwat, who is one of our directors. He chairs the succession subcommittee on the board.”
“Great. Let’s say you get the right people on board, what else will you do?”
“I need you to coach them in the first 90 days. The purpose is to help them integrate to our way of working smoothly. Our organisation’s way of working is quite unique. Since you’ve worked with us for few years, you’re already aware of it.”
She pauses, then says decisively, “Coach, I want you to get involved from the beginning — from selecting the headhunter to the interviewing.”
“With pleasure.”
“Thank you. Now, talking about interviewing, what is the one thing you should ask the candidate?”
“Khun Darin, in Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch, the authors devote a chapter to hiring where they answer that very question:
“ ‘If I had just one area to probe in an interview, it would be about why the candidate left his previous job, and the one before that.
‘Was it the environment? Was it the boss? Was it the team? What exactly made you leave? There is so much information in the answers. Keep digging.
‘The key is: Listen closely. Get under the candidate’s skin. Why a person has left a job or jobs tells you more about them than almost any other piece of data.’ ”
“Thanks, coach. Let’s stop here and we’ll talk about this again at our next meeting.”
Kriengsak Niratpattanasai provides executive coaching in leadership and diversity management under the brand TheCoach. He can be reached at coachkriengsak@yahoo.com. Daily inspirational quotations can be found on his Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/TheCoachinth. Previous articles are archived at http://thecoach.in.th