Week Nine - Hiring and Recruiting

"If you can hire people whose passion intersects with the job, they won't require any supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone could ever manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without. Their motivation is internal, not external."
Stephen Covey

The end of the semester is here, and I have enjoyed the past nine weeks of self-discovery more than words to paper could ever convey really. I keep hearing U2 playing “…but I still haven’t found what I am looking for…” in my head, but I do think I am one step closer to it. This week, one of the best testaments to my growth this semester was on our team presentation. Usually I feel that I have to email, post, track down, and do the final review of what we submit so that I can make sure it is up to “my standards” and what I did instead was just create a template, post my slides, and let the whole thing just ride. I am sure part of that is just the deep mental and physical exhaustion setting in…and the overwhelming stress of my two upcoming final classes. But none the less, I am going to take it as one small victory!

After watching Schmidt’s video, I do think that his description of the Google culture makes sense at the very basic level; your culture starts with the people you hire, and that should be considered very carefully, regardless of the level this person is on your team. Spending time on the core values and how these recruits fit into your ideal vision of the culture of the company is definitely worth the time given and spent on the front end. This allows their “driven” personalities to come alive and meld with others whom have independently taken it upon themselves to work towards collaborative goals with meaning and purpose and passion. Recruitment should inherently focus on compatibility…it’s not enough to have the credentials and education behind you. That may get you in the door, but not keep you around (McKinsey Quarterly, 2011).

I don’t think it takes courage, I think it takes trust. Trust in your team, trust in your departments, trust in the culture that you breed and contribute towards…without security and fluent understanding of your team, the culture they breed, as well as their varying viewpoints, courage doesn’t really help any manager I can think of. I agree with Schmidt that you do always need a certain amount of discourse and deadlines to make things happen; with uniformity there can be no innovation, and we all have learned how detrimental groupthink can be for our organizations and teams (McKinsey Quarterly, 2011). Additionally, as Schmidt mentions, checks and balances in dealing with pressure is important for all levels within an organization. No management should be allowed to hire their friends – there is usually no room for nepotism either. Multiple interviews are important, and should include a varying degree of levels of management and areas. For example, according to Forbes.com, the best elements to look for in hiring for your organization include finding someone who is not only competent, capable and compatible, but also someone who is symbiotically committed, has character, and also has the ability to influence and reflect your company’s culture (Hall, 2012).

Where I could see this approach backfiring would be that if your culture wasn’t as sound or on track as you thought as a leader; if you are not hiring those that meld well with your current system, or the system in which you are trying to breed within your culture, then you risk a negative disruption towards what you are attempting to accomplish. Additionally, another area in which I disagree with Schmidt is that everyone has to be of the same level of formal education, and then you can work on getting them to learn to be team players. In my experience, with the “right” candidate, they can learn almost anything…so if they haven’t finished the level of education you think they should, but they happen to be the “right” fit personality-wise and in the other softer areas of management, you shouldn’t exclude them from your culture. Far more damage and drama comes from those who are hired that can do their job well, but cause issues due to personality conflicts. As our reading uncovered this week, “The success of future organizations, then, depends on how effectively the needs of individual members can be integrated with the vision and goals of the organization” (Brown, 2011, p. 224). This entire semester, we have focused on learning what impacts to what systems are caused by not embracing the leadership skills required to navigate through conflict, challenge, and differing perspectives. The psychosocial system that houses the social relationships, norms, behavioral patterns and communications is a delicate fabric (Brown, 2011, p. 224); one “wrong hire” with a lot of education behind them could be the beginning of the downfall of the team. Moreover, you are tending to place judgment on those who didn’t achieve the same level as yourself; education is important, but not always the only way to determine what type of people you should consider letting into your organization. We need diversification and differences to make things work, and cultural and team impacts are no different.

I think that this model, along with Schmidt’s take on emphasis of proper recruitment from the start, are areas I can use immediately. Because the whole purpose in finding the right fit for everyone is usually undervalued, more emphasis should be placed on the peer interview process, as well as observing how the energy and the ability of the individual compliments or enhances the current culture in which we work in.

Until we blog again…thank you for such a wonderful grouping of opportunities this past semester!

References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organizational Development, Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Hall, A. (2012, June 19). The 7 C's: How to Find and Hire Great Employees. Retrieved from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2012/06/19/the-7-cs-how-to-find-and-hire-great-employees/

McKinsey Quarterly. (2011, May). Eric Schmidt on business culture, technology, and social issues. Retrieved from mckinsey.com: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/eric_schmidt_on_business_culture_technology_and_social_issues

Week 8 - Build a tower, build a team

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

-         Socrates

I am sad thinking how fast these past eight weeks have flown by. Although life as it would be has personally taken its toll on me while enduring them, I have found such great solace and peace in our work together while going through whatever comes my way. I just keep reminding myself that although it may be exhausting, and often overwhelming, I know the work I do in this program is SO worth it; I am not exactly even sure why when someone asks me…it’s a feeling of destiny and a thirst for the acknowledge that unfolds every week, in every chapter, in every assignment, and in every discussion.

By far, and without fail, I knew Mercury was in retrograde this month without even looking it up. My exhausting days and many sleepless nights were a sure sign of it…amongst everyone at work being entirely off their rocker. But then I watched what I will lovingly refer to as the Marshmallow Prophecy Tom Wujec – it is without a doubt what helped center me this week. I know…pasta and marshmallows…an easy way to a carb-junkies heart! But none the less, this little 6 minute or so video grounded me this morning when I watched it. I couldn’t stop laughing for a minute…the simplicity in things…it is what I have been craving all month, probably more so than pasta.

I remember reading a while ago that Steve Jobs once said that “…simplicity can be harder than complex…” (Jobs) and it is so true. Take our case study this week, for example. The amount of irrelevancy and length to the email from Ryan back to John was a disgrace. When someone is looking to bounce ideas off you, you have to listen to their ideas first, BEFORE RESPONDING! Again, you can hear my work frustration keeping in theme with our module this week; but it couldn’t be closer to the truth of my days…if people would “…stop, collaborate, and listen...” (Van Winkle, 1991)…yes, I am a fan of Vanilla Ice…but if we did stop and collaborate and listen more...life would seemingly be so much simpler and more enjoyable for us all!

As we uncovered this week from our readings and discussions, as our teams or groups begin to evolve, there are different roles and behaviors that tend to emerge; each one serving a purpose to accomplish a particular task or help the group grow and improve. For example, group task functions generally serve the purpose of helping the group solve a problem or answer a question (Brown, 2011, p. 201), whereas group maintenance functions serve to build harmony, compromise, encouragement, empathy, and gate keeping (Brown, 2011, p. 202).

I think that is why, going back to Wujec’s example of the “Marshmallow Problem” works; MBA students get in their mind that there is one leader and one way of doing something…I should know, I did my BSBA at University of Florida which were master’s level classes although I was an undergrad, and it does condition you in a manner that you feel you have to be the one with the idea and management to ensure success. Kids don’t know the complications of life and aren’t necessarily fully engaged in legitimate competition with one another to be the next CEO of Spaghetti, Inc. as Wujec points out in his discussion (Wujec, 2010) as most young and ambitious recent college graduates are. We are hungry, we want to make our mark, and often times, we want to make big money too.

But again, back to the importance of simplicity…kids don’t have any preconceived notion on how it should work, they just try and try again in trying to get it done…not necessarily getting it right. That is why I think they performed better out of the gate; they don’t understand that failure in front of others causes mental scarring for some of us; adults get so worried about what others will think if we don’t do it right the first time, we forget the importance of what failure can teach us…life lessons! And more importantly, kids are able to work in groups most likely easier than adults because they see each other as equals and not as someone threatening their abilities or goals. They collaborate with kindness and ease, and as we grow older and become more set in our ways, we forget that we have to work with others to make things work.

I also think that is why the admin assistant on the team of CEO’s is successful as well. Admin assistants are typically in the background…but people forget they are a pivotal part of the puzzle. Why? Because it is their job to learn the personalities and idiosyncrasies of the executives they support – SUPPORT, not challenge, not interfere, not prevent collaboration, but SUPPORT the people who support the work that needs to happen. It is not about their executive marshmallow being on top – it can’t be without the assistance of their entire spaghetti team supporting it. They are the tape, the string, the proverbial glue. It is how they are able to coordinate and instill collaboration amongst all of the spaghetti managers and other leaders that we are able to lift our executive marshmallows up and remain as a supporting structure to the entire strategy and team. Kids just know they have to get the marshmallow to the top and the spaghetti not break in order to do it through trial and error. MBA’s and the rest of us think that it is about completion and getting our marshmallow higher than any other team…we forget that the spaghetti is fragile and cannot do it alone – we need the tape and other resources that we are given to make it happen. Kids take what they are given and make the best of it…I need to remember that personally and professionally. Take the lemons, add ice and good tequila and focus on simplicity.

I would love to be able to integrate this video and lesson into my job somehow…I am going to make it my mission to find a way to do it with one of my weekly teams – they already know I am crazy, but this could be an amazing tool to help guide their memory towards how it takes all of us supporting and focusing on the marshmallow (in this case the same team goal) to get our efforts moving in the right direction. We have to stop acting and reacting in a vacuum, as our workflow affects all of us. I am very hopeful that I soon find pockets of time to de-clutter and simplify my work so I can help encourage others to do the same. I want to find a snappy intervention I could use to get my team back on track and deescalate some of the stress and tension we are all under…the Marshmallow Prophecy may just work!

Until we blog again…

References

Jobs, S. (n.d.). Simplicity Quotes. Retrieved from brainyquote.com: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/simplicity.html

Van Winkle, R. (1991). Vanilla Ice. Retrieved from IMDB.com: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406678/bio

Wujec, T. (2010, February). Build a tower, build a team. Retrieved from TED.com: http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower