Hiring The Right Leaders
If you want to hire extraordinary people, you must get away from ordinary practices!
Recently I worked with a school division that needed to fill some key positions. As we looked for the right people, we put our minds together and decided that if we want the right people for these key jobs, we had to take a very different approach to get them in.
We brainstormed about what we needed at each site. We developed some key components of what we were looking for. We began to think of people that we had worked with or had met over the years through conferences, webinars, or just people from our past. What began as a brainstorming activity turned out to be quite a unique experience. We decided that time, procedures, and past practices were not important. We also made the decision that if we followed the normal school of thought, we would get what we always got. Born out of this thinking were three credible leaders who had not only not applied, but weren’t even aware of the openings.
Next we called them and asked them if they were interested in talking about their future. Once they agreed to a meeting, we began to engage in some conversation about what their goals and aspirations were. We talked about some opportunities we had in our division. As we shared these openings, each of them began to realize that what we were describing was a perfect match to their abilities and their aspirations.
Needless to say, within two weeks we had filled three key positions and it was not done by ordinary or traditional means! Today, all three are leaders in their prospective schools or departments. In addition, it has caused the division leaders to think differently about ways to get the right people and streamline the process.
The moral of this story is, ‘Don’t Wait For The Right One, Go For The Right One!’
Michael W. Evans Sr.