How do we Identify & Hire Leaders with Aspiration, Engagement and Agility

 Over recent weeks and months many have asked How do we Identify & Hire Leaders with Aspiration, Engagement and Agility who posses drive and a mind set in pushing for more for a group comprising of about  20 odd Chairman, Managing Directors from MNS'c and SME's,  Executive Directors, Chief Executive Officers (not Chief Entertainment Officers) and Chief Operating Officers. The setting was at the tranquillity of the Mt Kiara Club with a great ambience of food and session like a round table and coffee discussion. 

This was a very focus group that wanted real solutions and answers to the ever challenging dilemmas that they were facing in hiring in todays evnvironment. Their leader is a no-nonsense personality. The problems faced were real.

I received their feedback on my performance this week. It read:

1. Overall Content of Speaker’s presentation: 9.2 out of 10

2. Delivery Style of Speaker: 10 out of 10

3. Speaker’s Strength 

- HR, Clear and simple, Cool, Engagement, Demonstration, Showcase ability to interview, Giving a lot of useful info and examples, Relevant stories

Let me share some of the content of the talk in a Q&A manner.

Question One

Isn't it best to identify a person's capability from the info given in the CV? Is CV a marketing & selling document?

Answer:

The CV indicates the candidate's past experiences and possible capabilities. He must be able to sell and market him self before an actual interview. It is not a promise of what the candidate can do for you. Use the CV to filter out candidates who do not have enough experience / or posses drive and capabilities of what you are looking for. The best way to hire a candidate is to interview the selected person. The interviewer must know how to probe for the right answers. Then, evaluate the final candidate over a period of three to six months using the probation exercise. Many don't know what qualities to look at and in so we define some in the session based on job scope.

Question 2

Isn't hiring based on current needs the best way to identify the right candidates plus experience and also pre-paring Q&A?

Answer:

Hiring based on current needs dries up the talent pool. In the real world, technology is disrupting everything. You need to look for candidates with thinking abilities, who can convert technologies into practical products and services. You also need to find candidates who can stretch beyond their current capability and take up leadership roles in the future. Get ready on the jobs questions and experience to see how people handle and answer them is another way to see what are you looking for.

Question 3

Isn't it best to hire an external person rather than to promote someone internally? Wouldn't this increase the knowledge pool?

Answer:

It may sound easy to acquire new technology by hiring someone new who has the necessary capabilities. But the answer is not so simple or straightforward. Every organisation is made up of unique Internal Processes (IP) and Working Environment (WE). A new hire may not be familiar with either or both the existing IP & WE. There might be a better solution. Like, identifying a suitable staff to be trained and promoted. Such a candidate already knows how to handle your current IP & WE. I asked a question is new ideas better then old ones? Does the same mind that created the problem be able to provide you with the solution? So having some interview would also give you ideas how people think, you may not hire them, but gain knowledge.

Question 4

Wouldn't how a candidate perform be dependent solely on the candidate's personality, attitude and approach?

Answer:

In reality, you will find that relationships are reciprocal. An environment that knows how to team will find it easy to incorporate a new staff. In fact, Forbes reports that one of the five factors that determined the success of an organisation is the ability of the functional heads to team together. Group performance is dependent on the capability of the organisation to work as teams. It will be easier to introduce someone new to such an environment. Plan the questions well to evaluate the attitude and also the approach in mind set to your questions is essential in knowing whats best.

Question 5

Competency or behavioural based interviewing?

Answer:

You need to go beyond both and take into consideration the candidate's

a) Aspiration

b) Engagement

c) Agility

Question 6

What is Aspiration, Goals, Achievements to date and etc?

Answer:

Aspiration outlines the applicant's goals, desires, knowledge and interest. Cognitivity, subject matter expertise and competency fall into this category. It indicates ambition, IQ and a personal capability for high performance. 

Question 7

What is Engagement, How, Crucial Points to See in their engagement ?

Answer:

Engagement can be view as the candidate demonstration of the ability to create a high performing working environment. Any applicant with good engagement capability should be able to build good working relationships between superiors, subordinates and peers. Engagement is a behavioural skill linked to EQ and social motivation. It indicates the ability to motivate group performance.

Question 8

What is Agility & Capabilities ?

Answer:

Agility represents the flexibility of a candidate to perform in different positions. An agile candidate shows interest in many fields. Research shows that 80% of high performers become stressed up and leave when you move them to a different area. The remaining 20% are known to have the ability to move into a new field and become high performers. Agility indicates high potential.

Question 9

Why is it difficult to find candidates like in the old days, by understanidng each of them on their will power, generation gap & drive?

Answer:

The old days are gone. We are now facing the new world of technology and disruptors. But we have large numbers of candidates. What we need to do is to know how to attract the right candidates and filter out those we don't want. The people who take charge of hiring need to be trained to do this.

Question 10

Do the current candidates lack the quality we saw in the old days or are we looking for what we want or a dream?

Answer:

Times are changing. When tools were scarce, we had to develop the skills to manage without them. The ways of the old are made redundant by the availability of these new tools. It is we who have to adapt and move with the changes. Otherwise, the new staff may be seeing us as the dinosaurs that can't keep up with time.