FEATURE sTOrY Your candidate may have a successful track record of sorts, but can you be sure they really know how they got there so they can do the right things for your business? consider this: He has experience creating a new product. But if you asked him to be in charge of systematically creating new products, he wouldn't know where to start. If you hired him for that, you would probably be disappointed, despite his experience developing a successful product. 2) Your candidate may have the experience you want, such as managing a group of people. But how do you know if they are competent at it? If they are good at the technical aspects of their job, but not so good at leading a team, how would you know that they learned enough from prior experience to be better now? Consider a senior manager in a purchasing department for a large manufacturer. let’s say she has been a manager before and has dealt with problem employees. unfortunately, her way of dealing with them was to ignore them. Now she is in a new position and has a team member who rankles coworkers so much that they avoid him at all costs. just like before, she put off dealing with the problem until she heard enough employees gripe about it. The problem was never convenient to deal with, so she avoided it until things quieted down, telling herself the problem just went away. Of course, it didn't, and the cycle repeated. she hadn't learned how to manage employees the first time, so she made the same mistakes. If you thought that because she had experience as a manager she could handle problem employees, you would be wrong. 3) Your candidate may have a successful track record of sorts, but can you be sure they really know how they got there so they can do the right things for your business? One CeO thought that because the business doubled in size while she was chief, she was doing everything right. she understood the industry and had made some good strategic decisions to grow revenue. But because she tried to manipulate and control people at every level in the company, dissension, high turnover, and infighting were killing productivity, making the business unprofitable. she thought her ability to manipulate people was what made her successful, but her success really came from her strategy skills. If you hired her thinking she knew how to build a business, you might be in for a shock. If you think all your candidate needs to get the job done is experience, think again. If your potential hire has relevant experience, make sure they can do the job you need them to do. after all, you don't want to create another workplace “chainsaw” nightmare. Kevin Herring is co-author of Practical Guide for Internal Consultants and president of Ascent Management Consulting. Kevin can be contacted at kevinh@ascentmgt.com. Ascent Management Consulting is found at www.ascentmgt.com and specializes in performance turnarounds, leadership coaching, and appraisal-less performance management. TRYING IT ON FORFIT When you’re ready to make your next hire, review your hiring criteria, and make sure to ask candidates questions to determine actual skills, values, and practices. ask them how they would handle important situations in your business. learn about their experiences and what insights they took from them to see if they're self-aware and not repeating mistakes. Pretend you're a candidate for your job and ask yourself the same questions. look for opportunities to learn from your experiences and make yourself THe jOurNal OF THe HealTHCare BIllINg aND maNagemeNT assOCIaTION 27 a better leader or team contributor. after trying this out, send me an email and let me know what you learn from your experiences. I would love to hear from you!
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