Assessments | Perfect Hire Blueprint

Replacing a Departed Leader? Avoid the Pendulum Effect

When replacing a departed leader at or near the top of the pyramid, it is human nature to focus on the areas that the past leader lacked. While it seems to make sense that the company would grow by improving the leader’s weaknesses, I’ve experienced two cases where the focus on the weaknesses overshadowed the strengths required for the position.

In both cases the leader retired after a long stint from a very public position. One was a town manager, and the other was a senior minister. In both cases committees were formed and the members were intelligent, influential and knowledgeable of the requirements, yet in both cases the committees recommended and hired someone who was almost an extreme opposite of the former leader.

Dictionary.com provides the following definition of the pendulum effect:

1. Also called pendulum law. Physics. a law, discovered by Galileo in 1602, that describes the regular, swinging motion of a pendulum by the action of gravity and acquired momentum.
2. the theory holding that trends in culture, politics, etc., tend to swing back and forth between opposite extremes.

In definition one, gravity is responsible for the action. The bottom of the pendulum is the steady, stable state (equilibrium). The bottom is where the pendulum wants to go, but it overshoots its goal, then tries to return to it. Definition two is what we see in the political system: driven by a group of people who don’t like the current administration, the majority votes for the other party.

In the case of the town manager (politics, but not elected), the previous leader was a micromanager and controller. While the townspeople didn’t know the specifics of how the town operation functioned, it appeared to be well run and it was well regarded, desirable, and ranked at the top for towns in the state. What wasn’t apparent by many was that the managers under the top manager never had to make decisions because the town manager would approve them all. The committee that was formed to hire the next town manager decided they wanted more of a delegator for the next leader. The pendulum had swung to the other extreme. While I approve of more delegation, there was no transition plan put in place for the new manager. It was like the inmates ran the asylum: total chaos! Luckily, after a few years and much angst by all who worked there and those on the fringes, the 2nd level leaders adapted to the new management style.

In the case of the senior minister, the pendulum swung from an introverted intellectual to an extroverted multitasker. The search committee surveyed the congregation, looking for a scholar who was a good teacher, but they also wanted someone warmer with a higher emotional intelligence. While the new pastor received his PhD soon after starting in his new position, his sermons were not as intellectual as the previous minister, and many came to miss the old sermons.

Both of these positions are incredibly demanding, and there is a very long list of skills needed to succeed.

If the starting point for the new leader is the position of the departed leader, then you will likely get someone who on the other side of the pendulum arc. The further away the previous leader was from the stable, steady state (amplitude), the further the next leader will be from equilibrium due to the kneejerk reaction to the prior’s weaknesses. That’s just how a pendulum works – if it’s pushed a large distance from the bottom, it will go the same distance up the other side. No matter the position to be filled, people tend to try to hire someone who was either successful in a position, or the opposite of someone who failed.

The pendulum effect can be disrupted by benchmarking the job. The benchmarking process that we use for hiring uncovers the requirements of the job, and doesn’t focus on the people who may have previously held the position.

It’s important to understand what is unique about one job versus other related jobs. The critical success factors (I prefer key accountabilities) are determined through a process of brainstorming, grouping and prioritizing. Then, a handful of stakeholders take an online assessment – not about themselves, but about the job. This creates the benchmark for the ideal candidate: the one that can stay in equilibrium due to possessing the behaviors, skills, motivation, and acumen needed to succeed.

Leadership positions can make or break a business. Companies need to stop guessing and start assessing the candidates, then compare them to a customized job benchmark to find the ideal leader.

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Hiring and Team Building with DISC

My “Aha” moment came in about 1995-96. Our 6 person management team sequestered ourselves for a day of “team building” after we took a Myers-Briggs assessment. As we went around the group, many of us were similar “personality types,” but one person stood out as different. That person was the same one who always disagreed with the group, and had his own way of managing. The bulk of the group were ENTPs, and he was an ISTJ. It was then that the facilitator told us it was good that we were not of all the same type – because if we were, we would be blind to the collective weaknesses of the group.

Both DISC and MBTI have their origins in research in the 1920s or 30s, from different researchers, with DISC starting with Marston and MBTI with Jung. Their initial goals were different, but there is some correlation. I will not go into detail here, but this is an approximate relationship:

D=EST/ENJ
I=ESF/ENP
S=ISF/INP
C=IST/INJ

I have found that DISC is more effective in helping you interact with others; it can provide clear guidance for adjusting how you speak to each other, and how to understand another easily to help a working relationship. I have not found an easy way to know someone else’s MBTI profile, but in contrast, what I call RapiDISC is a very easy way to narrow someone down to a quadrant in about 60 seconds.

Knowing one’s DISC style is similar to “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.” Once you know more about that person, you will understand her better and should have more effective interactions.

For hiring and managing a team this is invaluable. Once DISC styles are known, there are fewer misunderstandings because communication is clearer. Also, by knowing one’s natural strengths and weaknesses, one can be put in a position where she will excel and succeed rather than struggle. In Good to Great, Collins says that great companies get the right people in the company and get them in the right seats. DISC and related assessments help you do both.

If You’re Not Assessing…You’re Guessing!

Dimensions of Superior Performance I use assessments for almost everything I do. I use them in hiring, for promotions, to understand others on your team (such as coworkers), and even for diagnosing business issues. They can also be used in determining compatibility in personal relationships, although I only focus on workplace relationships in my business.

Employee Placement

Offers are given to people well before the company knows whether or not the person will succeed in that position. This used to surprise me, but it no longer does: companies hire key employees (or any employee, for that matter) with very little information. I believe there is no reason to be taking this risk, as the company cost of a bad hire is thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands.

Assessments are also important for promotions. We have all heard of the Peter Principle, where an employee is promoted to the level of their incompetence. People are promoted inappropriately all the time. Just because someone is a good individual contributor does not mean that person would make a good manager.

Coworkers

As for understanding coworkers and team building, it’s helpful to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each person on the team. In Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, the office succeeds because they got “the right people on the bus” and got them “in the right seats.” From my experience, very few companies do the former, and fewer still do the latter effectively.

Additionally, coworkers will work better together when they understand the other’s strengths and weaknesses. It is very common for people working together to get angry with one coworker because they don’t understand why that person acts a certain way. By reading a person’s assessment, we can know exactly why the person does what she does.

For instance, you’d want a certain type of person to deal with the finances of a company – I would look for a Compliant Behavior (aka High C). But by the same token, a complaint personality is not someone who would necessarily excel in customer service.

Business Assessment

Lastly, there’s the business assessment. As a small business advisor, I help small business owners and entrepreneurs reach their goals. It has been my experience that the business owner often does not fully understand the issues that he or she is facing.

Often I hear the symptoms of the issues, but rarely do the owners know the root causes. Without getting to the root cause, the issue is never fully solved, and will commonly come back again in the future. I also see times when the owner doesn’t know the real problem because he doesn’t see what happens at the lowest level, day-to-day.

Stop Guessing – Start Assessing!

The above is a long-winded way of saying and justifying that “When you’re not assessing, you’re guessing.”^TM In my experience, guessing rarely pays off. But as they say, “even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes,” and “a stopped clock is right twice a day.”

Most of the time we do a formal assessment, generate a report, and have a comprehensive, detailed analysis. But assessments can also be informal, and done on the fly by educated guessing. I have coined these “RapiDISC” because I use the DISC Behavioral Assessments. You can learn more about how to do a 60-second RapiDISC^TM on this page. This is a good practice engineering that I learned long ago. First, make an educated guess based on experience, and then compare that to the detailed analysis before assuming the detailed answer is correct.

Few business owners run their business with the information needed to make informed decisions. I use fully researched and proven assessments that I have verified firsthand, and I leverage this knowledge to advise my clients on the best course of action. Ultimately it is their decision, and their decisions take on less risk and fewer unintended consequences.

For more on this topic visit mpoweradvisors.com

Hiring and Assessments

If you are like many hiring managers, you feel that hiring can be random. You don’t really know what you’ve got until the employee has been in the position for 6 months.

I know of a company that hired a COO through a headhunter, and they had to let him go after just 9 months. That was at least a $300k mistake, and that’s just the cost in hard dollars. The cost for a committee to interview many candidates (now having to do it all over again) and the opportunity cost of having another employee stretched thin, doing double-duty to fill this role are probably another $300k.

There are many steps you take in hiring your employees. All of these are important steps to take – yet they’re also easily manipulated by applicants.

Resume – stretches the truth and rewritten by a professional
Cover letter – rewritten by a professional
Interview – coached and refined through mock interviews
Reference checks – either over-the-top praise, or just name, rank, and serial number…

Dimensions_of_Superior_Performance

After the process, did you get to know the person who will show up on day 1, or the well coached version, who took his behavior modifying medication that day ?

There has to be a better way, and there is.

You need to add assessments into the mix to make sure your prospective employee will be a good fit for the position and the company. In only about an hour, it’s possible to assess the candidate’s Emotional Intelligence, values, skills, behavior and acumen for the job. These assessments have been proven to meet and exceed OFCC regulations and are non-discriminatory and fully EEOC compliant, giving you comfort with the process. With job benchmarking, we have seen year over year retention rates of 94%, making the hire more of a sure thing than a crapshoot.

Not only are the TTI Assessments good for new hires, they can also be used to evaluate and coach existing management and staff. To learn more visit our Assessments page.

Hiring Benchmark

How do you know if your top candidate is going to work out?

Will she still be at the company 12 to 18 months from now?
Do you feel hiring is just a shot in the dark, and you need a 90 day trial period?
Is your preferred hiring method to “go with your gut”?

You may be an anomaly, but most people who hired by gut get results as poor as those with a bad process. Data shows that around 50% of new hires fail within 12-18 months. Clearly there is a need for a better way to hire, and the Benchmark process is the solution.

The Benchmark assessment must be the starting point for all hiring. While it’s possible to hire without it, the chance of success is much lower. If you’ve had a bad hire, you know the pain and expense involved to shed that person – not even accounting for the expense and time required in the hiring process, and the opportunity cost of not having the right person. The Benchmark is the standard by which a candidate should be measured.

A Job Benchmark will help determine whether a candidate has the desired qualities necessary to be successful in the position.

With an accurate Benchmark, the job description can be more than just a list of duties. The Benchmark forms the job description and the ad that will be seen by prospective employees. It is the starting point that helps ensure that the right candidate is hired.

To create this Benchmark we need to know why this job is different from other positions in the company. Why is this job needed? What are the responsibilities that are unique to this position? Once these questions are answered, the Benchmark gives an outline of the ideal candidate.

So how do you know if a candidate is right for the position?

After the candidate takes a Behavioral Assessment, it is compared to the standard (the Benchmark) via a Gap Analysis report. Many factors determine if the candidate is the right fit: the cover letter, resume, interviews, references and the online Behavioral Assessment. The assessment is objective, so it cuts through the nervousness – or charisma – that the candidate displays that may affect the interviewer’s perception. The assessment also takes away the unconscious bias of the interviewer.

No matter your hiring process, the Benchmark and the Behavioral Assessment will improve your hiring success rate dramatically. We have found that in over 90% of the cases using this process, new hires stay at least a year.

Remember, If you’re not assessing – you’re guessing

Bride or Groom: What’s Your Project Management Style?

Everyone could be or has been a manager of a project, but some people are more natural PMs than others, and different projects require different skills and behaviors. I recently experienced a stressful situation that was resolved though good project management.

My son had a winter wedding scheduled Saturday, January 23, 2016. The bride had planned every detail for the perfect “destination” wedding: everything from the music for the father/daughter and mother/son dances to the 8 bridesmaids’ hair and makeup appointments; from the hotel rooms to the chair covers. Her wedding day was going to be just like she always imagined it.

But then everything went wrong.

The winter destination wedding wasn’t in a tropical locale, but in northern Virginia. The odds were good that it would go well because the weather is typically moderate at that time, but this particular weekend turned out to be the Blizzard of 2016: the forecast called for 20-30 inches of snow. The contract with the venue called for cancelation of the event if the snow measured over 12 inches.

The Wednesday before the wedding, it was clear that their perfect day was looking less perfect. All the planning in the world could not account for the state of Virginia’s lack of snow preparedness. Tough choices were going to have to be made when faced with no venue, no attendees, and no vendors (photographer, videographer, DJ, etc).

These tough situations call for objective thinking. We needed someone who could separate the emotion of a personal event and months of planning from the reality of the situation at hand, but also had the authority and tact to get a solution. There was really only one person who could do it: the groom.

Luckily the groom had some engineering PM experience and a support network of people he could count on, including one who he knew could help: his father. Both could think objectively, logically, and unemotionally, and communicate tactfully under pressure.

The results were nothing short of memorable. That was the word used most by anyone who could attend. The local news covered the event, and the news segment was picked up nationwide:

The bride had the organizational skills and the vision to plan the perfect wedding, but with so much emotionally invested, she needed someone she could trust – someone who had complementary skills and understood her vision. While postponing the wedding might have been a typical choice, clear thinking and objective problem solving minds made the event happen.

When your company is looking for someone to act as a project manager, you need to consider the project. Does it require someone who does thorough planning and creates a vision for everyone to rally behind, or does the project require quick decisions, actions and objective thinking under pressure to make things happen? Don’t just look for someone with PM experience –look for someone with the right kind of PM experience, values, behaviors and skills. In rare cases, as the one above, you ultimately need both styles for a successful result.

Benchmarking the Project Manager job will identify exactly what is needed for the candidate to be successful in that position. The assessment process will identify the right person for the job and weed out those who only seem to be the right fit and might have been erroneously hired if not for a process that identifies the ideal candidates.

For more on this topic visit mpoweradvisors.com

Improving Performance by Understanding Behavior

Having the right employees can either make or break a small business.

Industry research reports show that a bad hire can cost a company up to 3X the employee’s salary. For a small business, this is at least $8000 before the problem is corrected, and I know of one case where the bad hire put a ~$2M business out of business in less than 12 months.

Assessing the prospective employee before hiring can save more than just money. If an owner/manager has a spotty record of hiring, employees lose respect for the leader. This can impact the work, the clients, and start a negative attitude that is hard to reverse–ultimately leading to retention issues. Remember: ‘A’ players attract other ‘A’ players, and ‘B’ players attract ‘C’ players. ‘A’ players can spot other ‘A’ players, and want to work with them. Does your company have ‘A’ players?

Hire Differently

Our “Perfect Hire Blueprint” process dramatically increases the chance of a good hire. 90+% of people hired with this process are still productive in their jobs 1 year after being hired. That is a dramatic increase over the norm. It all starts with a benchmark.

You will notice that we never talk about recruiting. We are not recruiters — we help with the selection of great employees.

Two quotes to remember:

Most companies hire based on experience and skill, but they fire based on attitude or behavior.

Employees come to companies and leave managers.