Bet on Horses; Not on Races

Last week we launched a new program called "Seven Secrets for Successful Leadership." In this month's Food for Thought, we elaborate on one of those secrets: Bet on horses; not on races.

When filling an open position in your company, it is common to have a job description that describes the responsibilities and duties of the job, and the skills and competencies required to execute it. We then recruit people that might have those qualifications, assess their fit for the job and fit with the company through a series of interviews, and choose the individual that seems best qualified for the described position.

Have you ever wondered why the job is fixed and why we try to find the right person to fill that job?

What if instead, you found the best person available in the marketplace at the time and explored how that individual could contribute to your company? Might that individual restructure the job responsibilities based on the strengths they bring to the team? Might the distribution of workload and responsibilities in your company be shifted and redefined because of that individual? Would that be good for your company?

Undoubtedly, if the job is for a welding technician in a machine shop, the individual would need to be adept at welding.

But is competency in welding the definition of the job or merely a basic requirement for consideration? If you define your basic requirements more narrowly, you can be broader in the people you consider. You might then find people that bring the basic skill, but also a variety of other skills that you did not even know you could use. Instead of finding people to fill specific jobs, consider defining jobs to suit the good people you have or finding good people that happen to be available in the marketplace.

It was this concept that motivated us to conduct the musical chair exercise for succession planning, described in Food for Thought May 2007.

What that exercise showed was that hiring managers were specific in their job descriptions and narrowly focused on the candidates that they would consider. Yet, when forced to interview any interested candidate, often with significantly different backgrounds, the hiring managers were amazed at the new and novel perspectives they brought forth to executing the job function.

Finally, in today's fast-paced world of business, the jobs that need to be done will change over time. If you find a good person and structure their job to best suit the needs of the company and their unique abilities, you will be able to change with the needs adeptly. Bet on horses; not on races.

Food for Thought is our way of sharing interesting concepts on corporate leadership and management with others who might find it useful. The thoughts offered are intended to be controversial and thought provoking. They are intended to help our readers intentionally realize their potential, what we call Potentionality.