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How to Find the Right Person to Be a Leader

July 20, 2017

Blog Topic

Are you shocked that Gallup says 82% of management hires are the wrong fit?

The responsibility for that horrible statistic lies jointly with the company and their recruitment service provider.

Resumes, referee checks and the usual interviews are not enough to make the right choice.

Making the wrong choice is far worse than keeping the position open.

Technical and operational skills are not the primary criteria for selecting leaders.

So how do we make better choices when filling a leadership position?

Here’s a list of actions to take:

  1. Have an effective succession plan that goes deep into the organisation and is practiced regularly with the incumbent present and coaching with potential leaders rotating through the plan.
  2. Choose a shortlist based on people skills first and tech skills second, measured against the skills and attributes ideal for the role, as the role should be, not what it has become.
  3. With the shortlist, instead of relying on a resume, match it against a thorough profiling tool that measures behavioural traits, motivators, emotional intelligence, talent and acumen.
  4. Do a background check beyond cited referees.
  5. Do a deep, thorough interview, exploring outcomes from the profile, resume, intended role and scenarios around that role.
  6. Stress test with videoed scenarios that represent difficult and worse case scenarios they are likely to confront in the role.

These are the crucial criteria:

  1. Effective people skills
  2. Ethics and mature values
  3. Strategic thinking capacity
  4. Attitudinal competence (or at least emotional intelligence)
  5. Evidence of effective leadership behaviour, even if not in an official capacity

Finally, we must onboard them effectively with appropriate executive coaching and mentoring.  The lack of effective onboarding is a high contributor to leadership and executive failure.

There is no valid excuse for wrongly appointed people.

What have you experienced in the selection of leaders?

Please feel free to respond and share this.

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