The first failure point of hiring
The first failure point of hiring is not being crystal clear about what you really want the person you hire to accomplish. You may have some vague notion of what you want. Others on your team are likely to have their own equally vague notions of what you want and need. But chances are high that your vague notions do not match theirs. Enter the scorecard, the method we’ve devised for designing your criteria for a particular position. Neville Isdell, chairman and former CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, offered an example of this concept at work from his own experience. “In hiring, everything is situational,” he told us, “and no situation is entirely replicable. You are going to need different types of leaders at different phases of organizations. “When I was coming into Coca-Cola as CEO, I needed to bring in a new head of human resources. We had been through significant issues with morale, and the HR function was probably ranked at the bottom in terms of respect and regard from the employees as a whole. I needed somebody who could bring about change by building coalitions, but who could still do it with energy, drive, and speed. That meant I needed somebody with high emotional intelligence, really strong knowledge of the business, really good interpersonal skills, and the ability to build bridges. That was one type of situation that required one type of person.” Having this kind of clarity about the situational need enabled Isdell to put Cynthia McCague in the position, who has succeeded for exactly the reasons Isdell had anticipated. The scorecard is composed of three parts: the job’s mission, outcomes, and competencies. Together, these three pieces describe A performance in the role— what a person must accomplish, and how. They provide a clear linkage between the people you hire and your strategy.
Smart, Geoff; Street, Randy (2008-08-19). Who: The A Method for Hiring (Kindle Locations 278-292). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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