Your Would-Be Employee...

If you were in charge of building a team, who would you rather hire?

• A thinker (who lacks follow-through) vs. A hard worker (who lacks intellectual muscle)

• Someone who produces mediocre, yet consistent, work vs. Someone who is inconsistent but will hit homeruns

• A high performer who will leave in 1-2 yrs vs. An average employee who will grow within the organization

• Someone who follows direction (but is quiet and deferential) vs. Someone who challenges everything (strongly opinionated and loud)

• Will break a few eggs to get ahead vs. Not motivated to grow professionally

• A risk-taker who tries new things (but makes mistakes) vs. Someone who sits on their hands and is risk-averse

• Someone who gets things done (but steps on toes) vs. A consensus-based team-builder (but doesn't do any heavy-lifting)

• A disciplined optimizer vs. A creative inventor

• Someone who wants to climb the ladder quickly (go-getter) vs. Someone for whom work is not their first priority (9-5'er)

• A perfectionist, but takes too long to complete a task vs. Someone who does "good-enough" work on-time, but it lacks polish
  

Take a second to write down your responses.

Go through the list a second time. What kind of worker are you?

Comparing the list of who you'd hire to yourself, do you look for people who are different or similar to you?

***

While there are no "right" answers for what to look for in a new employee, there are 2 critical factors to consider when determining a match: the work itself, and the team.

1. The work itself
- What characteristics would be important for the job description?
- What traits are valuable to the industry or type of business?
- What is important for the strategy and direction of the organization?

2. The team
- What characteristics will round out the team (in terms of strengths and weaknesses)?
- Can they help bolster your own challenges as a boss?
- Will they fit into your corporate/team culture?

Thoughts? Opinions? Experiences? Leave a comment...

Leadership Development

My work in coaching overachievers actually grew out of my work as a Strategic Planner at a Global 500 company where I became incredibly interested in the subjects of employee engagement, corporate culture, and leadership. I still enjoy reading about companies that get it right.

A recent Fortune article "How Top Companies Breed Stars," discusses how top companies are becoming increasingly focused on building top talent through leadership development. It's a great article and worth reading it in it's entirety. Here are some excerpts (emphases added):

Of the many powerful forces driving companies to develop leaders more effectively, the most important is the world economy's long-term shift from dependence on financial capital toward human capital.

Hewitt global-practice leader Robert Gandossy, who oversaw the Top Companies for Leaders study, says, "Organizations need talented people a lot more than talented people need organizations."

It's interesting that when you think of a CEO, the image you have is of someone making decisions, negotiating, running meetings, and keeping the place going. In reality, it looks like some of the best leaders are the ones who are investing in the development of the executives around them.

You don't build leaders on the cheap, and you don't just bolt a development program onto existing HR procedures. Indeed, the biggest investment involved may be the time of the CEO and other executives. At McDonald's, CEO Jim Skinner personally reviews the development of the company's top 200 managers. At GE, Immelt reviews the top 600. Bill Hawkins of Medtronic spends 50% of his time on people issues, and many of the other CEOs report similar percentages - making it the largest commitment of time they have.

It seems like it has become evident that learning leadership is a very hands-on endeavor (note the importance of mentoring and coaching):

John Lechleiter, president and COO of Eli Lilly, offers a typical model: About two-thirds of leadership development comes from job experience, about one-third from mentoring and coaching, and a smidgen from classroom training.

These executives also place high value on difficult times to learn many of their valuable lessons. Seems like it's true just as much in life as it is in business...

Executives consistently report that their hardest experiences were the most helpful. P&G chief A.G. Lafley was in charge of the company's Asian operations during a major Japanese earthquake and the Asian economic collapse. That's when he discovered, he says, that "you learn ten times more in a crisis than during normal times."

It's no surprise that GE is #1 on the list of the Top Companies for Leaders in 2007. I'd love to model my future leadership workshops on what they're teaching in Crotonville, NY!

• Do you think your organization is attentive enough to your development as an employee? Please comment...