If you don't get it right, the costs can be significant.
by: Vince Molinaro
© Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com
A few years ago, I worked with a startup technology company. The company had developed a core set of values that were compelling and differentiated from competitors. In the early days, the company was extremely mindful of every new leader they hired into the organization. The search firm they worked with would do in-depth assessments. Candidates would have many interviews with potential co-workers. It wasn’t uncommon for a candidate to have 10 to 15 interviews. I thought that seemed excessive when I first heard about the practice. However, the new leaders I worked with all spoke about how valuable the process was because, when they joined, they felt like they had been with the company forever. They said it helped them hit the ground running in their new roles.
That company realized that every new hire, especially those being hired into leadership roles, really mattered in the early days. They were getting ready to drive accelerated growth, and they couldn’t afford to have any missteps along the way. Their values were fundamental to them, so they had put candidates through multiple interviews to gauge for culture fit. To me, that is an excellent example of getting it right and being mindful of whom you put into a leadership role.
This story has an important lesson for us as leaders: to be mindful of whom we place into leadership roles. If we don’t get it right, the costs can be significant. A poor hiring decision has costs, but when it’s a leadership role, the costs are exponentially higher and not just financial.
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