Jack Welch and Steve Wynn were on Charlie Rose a few days apart. Charlie asked them “What makes you or any CEO successful?” And, without hesitation, both of these superstars answered it’s about the people.
Do you have any doubt that people in your company should be your number one priority? As CEO, your most important responsibility is assessing and developing people.
What keeps you from giving this key aspect of your business proper attention? Do you have more important things to do? Are you putting out fires? Do you understand that fires will never stop flaring up without good people?
For so many businesses I work with, this is a “chicken or the egg” conundrum. They want to work on their people issues; but don’t know how to find the time or give the problem the attention it deserves.
As Jim Collins says in Good To Great, “First Who… the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” This was the first step of all the great companies. Should yours be any different?
Jack Welch, on Charlie Rose, said “every time you make a personnel appointment (a promotion or hire decision), it’s worth 100 speeches — you can talk all you want, but everyone must know and understand that when you make an appointment to a job, they’re a winner.”
Steve Wynn started the resort trend that built the Las Vegas we know today. His focus has always been taking care of his people. He understands that people are the key to his business. He credits his consistent creation of successful resorts to his people. This is an amazing accomplishment. Do you have any doubt that he makes people his priority? His people love him and they are what make his resorts so special.
So Where Do You Start With People?
Think about how you make your hiring or promotion decisions? What are the key determining factors? Have you clarified the key accountabilities of the role? Have you ranked the accountabilities in priority? Does everyone understand that the most important key accountability must be accomplished, or that changes (probably termination) will be made?
It is most important to get the best person (the A-player) hired into the position every time. You do that by having a method and logic as to why the selected candidate is the best person. You must be very confident and it must be very obvious that you made the correct choice. Remember, as Jack Welch says, your hiring decision, good or bad, is like making 100 speeches revealing your competence, or incompetence, to your employees.
There are excellent tools and procedures to determine job fit.
Follow these steps:
- Gather your key stakeholders in the position to create the key accountabilities of the role. Fine tune the accountabilities into 3-5 clear and concise statements about the job that can be leveraged into every step of the management process.
- Rank the accountabilities by priority. Number 1 being the most important and the last being the least important. The stakeholders must agree that if number 1 is not consistently and satisfactorily completed, it will mean termination for the employee.
- Estimate the percent of their time the person will spend to accomplish each accountability.
- Use validated and reliable assessments to measure the qualities needed to accomplish the key accountabilities on multiple dimensions:
- Behavioral Style
- Inherent Motivators
- Job Competencies
- Business Acumen
- Emotional Intelligence
- Measure and interview the candidates based on these dimensions and the desirable fit needed to be successful at the job.
Time and time again, I have seen these steps transform an organization from one of confusion and frustration, to one of clarity and focus. It’s not as daunting as you think. Start at the top and work down; giving your people the attention they deserve. You’ll be rewarded with better execution and accomplishment.