When Jim Collins published ‘Good to Great’ almost fifteen years ago. His message of getting the right people on the bus quickly became “the mantra” of that decade and into today. An article we found by Lee Schwartz provides not just a good reminder of Jim Collins’ work but a focus on getting those employees in the right seats on the bus. Certainly, in our Recruiting practice, adding the right people to the bus is what we’re engaged to do. So Lee’s article hit close to home for us. He also writes about having the courage to remove people who are in the wrong seat never mind on the wrong bus.
Making hiring decisions is not at all easy. In our practice, a Search Consultant often comes out of an in-depth interview saying “I like this guy”. But then has to take a pragmatic look at the body of work as matched against the job at hand. And, as often as not, it’s not the right candidate.
We match skills and experiences with the challenges we’ll need new employees to master; our team will probe behavior with strategic interview questions and topics; we gather research with reference to leadership style and past accomplishments to validate our emotional connection with the candidate with job-ready qualifications. In the end, we do take a deep breath, hire the chosen candidate and hope for the best because hiring is not a finite science.
Mr. Swartz also speaks to coming to the realization that an employee isn’t the right fit, doesn’t belong on the bus yet we often delay taking action. Maybe it’s because there’s a level of embarrassment assigned to hiring the wrong person; or we question our own leadership, second guessing if we’ve provided the proper coaching, direction, mentorship; maybe we just decide to give the employee more time to “get settled and deliver’? In any event, usually our initial instincts prove accurate and reluctantly, the decision is made to replace the under-performer and get the person on the bus and in the right seat.
And that’s where we can help; it’s what we do. Contact us to discuss our Recruitment Services and how we can fill seats on your bus.
Enjoy the Article! ~ Jim Fairfax
Are You Sitting In The Right Seat?
