If you read my blog on a regular basis, you know that I feel strongly that the global financial crisis and ensuing economic recession was not necessarily due to too much risk taking, but more to do with a glut of certain types of risk taking and a real lack of other types of risk taking. People risk is one of those that I would put in the “lack of” column.
As an executive in two finance companies during the bubble years I became very familiar with the hiring process. What I generally saw was that hiring managers were not interested in taking any risk on people and generally liked to hire people that were just like themselves. I suppose they felt as though they were taking enough risk on their deals, that they wanted to avoid any in the hiring process (too much market risk, not enough people risk). Or maybe, they were simply taking the easy way out. Just find the person who is doing what you want somewhere else and offer him/her more money to leave. This is unfortunately what the recruiting business had come to during those years. The reality is, most hiring managers (especially in the finance arena) are great at deals, but relatively poor at managing people. Therefore, it was much easier to hire people who have previously done the exact job that you are hiring for so that you can spend as little time as possible with them and have little risk that they are not good at the job you are hiring them for. It’s relatively sound logic as long as you are not interested in adding any creativity, ingenuity, or loyalty to your business. How loyal do you think employees are that go from job to job chasing money?
Hiring for what people have done and not who they are, gets you people who have the ability to do certain tasks, but does nothing for adding to the moral, innovative, and energy building aspects of a business. As with most things I write about, this was fine and worked well enough in the 20th century, but will be far less effective in the 21st century where the world, and particularly business, is beginning to work differently. Employees, especially the younger ones, want their careers to be about something, they want to feel as though they are making the world a better place, and they want to work on something that is exciting. People of my age and older, we never thought those goals were possible or even plausible to attain, so we simply gave in and focused on the money convincing ourselves that it is the ultimate measure of success. I personally, am rooting for the kids of today and tomorrow, hoping they have the courage to get what they want.
When you hire people for who they are, what innate traits they bring to the table, and how they think, then you can maximize their potential in ways that maximize your business success. Earlier this year, at the Front End Innovation Conference in Europe, there was a graduate student presenting some fantastic research on the traits of an innovative person. She did a great job on the research and a great job at presenting, and I found it fascinating that the discussion it sparked really showed what a novel concept this was for so many people. Sure, there have been personality tests that have been used in hiring practices for some time, but they really only tell you a few things like can you manage people, and will you get along with the others in your group. I don’t dismiss those questions by any measure, but I sure would love to start hearing questions like, “What do you want to create? What are your passions? How connected are you to your own internal wisdom?” used somewhere in the equation.
When I asked on twitter whether you should hire people for what they have done or who they are, I got some great responses. My favorite from @KrisSchindler and one that I agree completely with is to look for “intellectual curiosity”. This concept has largely vanished from large institutions, and in my opinion, is not focused on nearly enough in our education system. It’s a skill all of us are born with, and some of us choose to use it and others do not. Who do you want working for you?
People Risk is not only about taking risk that someone with a different background who can think from new and creative positions is going to be good for your company. People Risk is also about allowing yourself as a manager or executive to find the unconditional value in each person as individuals and as they interact within the company. This takes time, and even more importantly, this takes being vulnerable enough to make those really strong connections that inspire people to work at their full potential. When people are working at their full potential in an environment where they are respected, they have no desire to go somewhere else.
Alex Pattakos, PhD, writes in his book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts:
“The transformation of work in the twenty-first century is, in many respects, a call for humanity—a new consciousness that suggests more than simply trying to strike a balance between our work and our personal life. It is a call to honor our own individuality and fully engage our human spirit at work—wherever that may be.”
The first time I read a Patrick Lencioni book, I was the COO and Managing Director of a global corporate finance company. I hadn’t been there long and was already regretting the move. My first thought after finishing The Five Dysfunctions of a Team was, “How do I leave of copy of this for the team without them knowing who left it?” Sadly, my boss was most likely coming to his own conclusion that hiring a member of the leadership team that thinks differently and speaks her mind, wasn’t really what he wanted after all. Thus, my only option was to “do” the book instead of trying to “preach” the book. It was actually beginning to work quite well, and an endeavor that taught me a ton. Then the financial crisis began and fear took hold of most people in the world of finance, and well, basically all hell broke loose in more ways than I can count.
