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Published: September 12, 2006
words.
300 words.
Reading time: 1 - 2
minutes.
How
to Avoid the Biggest People Mistake.
by Dov Gordon
Comment
on this issue:
http://ceotp.blogspot.com/
How to Avoid the Biggest
People Mistake.
The biggest and most
unnecessary people mistake in business stems from our tendency to evaluate a
candidate’s ability to handle a new job based on his or her performance at a
previous one.
This practice is the very
antecedent of what we lovingly call The Peter Principle. And so, we continue to
promote people until they no longer perform.
We forget that past
performance is not indicative of future success. Nevertheless, past performance
is the primary criterion we consider when hiring or promoting.
Continued below…
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Praise for Dov Gordon’s
Strategy work:
“...The two day program Dov
Gordon led assisted us in setting certain priorities
and objectives for the near
and mid term future.
“Dov made a number of
significant observations and comments which
assisted us in achieving our
program objectives. We were very pleased with the job he did and I would look
forward to engaging him in the future for additional assignments...” - Robert
Ehrlich, Chairman/CEO Arotech Corporation
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Continued…
The right approach is to
begin the other way around.
What are the non-negotiable qualities a person must posses in order to excel at
this job?
The criteria will always be a
combination of both skills (knowledge plus experience) and behaviors. For
example, it isn’t enough to know HOW to give a subordinate painful feedback –
the skill – if you fail to do it. Doing it is the behavioral factor, the
element that is often ignored.
Dov
Gordon’s CEO Thought-Provoker™ Questions:
1.
Do
you or your HR people arbitrarily define job requirements based on input rather
than the based on the business results you want the candidate to achieve? For
example: “Must have at least seven years experience in marketing” when it
should be “Can lead a marketing team and bring the best out of each team
member.”
2.
Take
out the written job descriptions for three key people in your organization.
Have you defined the three or four non-negotiable criteria for each position?
3.
Think
back to a time when you hired someone to a position that turned out to be over
their head. Did you a) define the non-negotiable criteria for the job and b)
investigate his behavioral tendencies as well as his skills?
The Gordon Group
works with organizations like yours, helping them make the right decisions in
the most important area of all: hiring talented people and creating an
environment and culture where they consistently perform at their peak. Ask us
how we can help you:
dov@gordongroupec.com.
****
You can comment
on this and other CEO Thought-Provokers™ at our blog:
http://ceotp.blogspot.com/
Archives
of The CEO Thought-Provoker™ are here:
http://www.gordongroupec.com/articles.html
+++++++++
Dov Gordon
helps senior
executives at small and mid-sized companies around the world to earn the respect
and admiration of their marketplace. Clients benefit from clarifying their
strategies, sharpening their focus, better decision making, improved teamwork
and growing into great leaders.
Management and Strategy
Consulting.
Executive Coaching.
+++++++++
You may
republish and redistribute this article provided that you include (1) the full
article with the attribution at the end, (2) a link to
www.GordonGroupEC.com in the
attribution and (3) You must notify us
before you use this piece to confirm this is still available.
Please
email me your thoughts and feedback.
See our
recommended reading list at:
www.GordonGroupEC.com/books.html
Copyright 2006 © by Dov Gordon. All rights reserved. |
