Put it on paper. You have to come up with criteria to determine if you have leaders to fit the profile you’re looking for. You need to be clear in your mind and the best way to do that is to have it written down on paper as to what your expectations are. What the duties and responsibilities are going to be? Employees need to know this is a minimum, not a maximum. The job will evolve from there.
Every interviewing process presents them with scenarios to see how they would react. They may be scenarios they have dealt with previously and they may be things they have never dealt with. But nonetheless, you want to know how they would react.
Get others involved with interviews. Part of being a good leader is being able to cut through the façade to get to the core of the individual to see if they are really capable.
People can be very charming and may know the right things to say, but their effectiveness is minimal. That’s what scenario testing is there for. You want to know what their ability is to deal with certain situations. How good are they at what they say they are good at? How do you determine what is real and what is lip service?
You can have multiple people from your leadership team interview and compare notes. What did they see? Different people see different things, and that will help you calibrate your own ability.
Not only does it help develop them, but it also helps to clearly and effectively communicate a single vision for the organization. The candidate is hearing it from multiple people, and they know that the leadership team is aligned.
The long-term success of any organization is to foster an environment where employees feel that they are empowered and that they are jointly responsible for the short-term and long-term success of the organization.
It’s critical in any organization as you grow that you develop that culture. Without it, there will be a general apathy, and it will lead to potential problems that can arise that can really set an organization back quite far and may not be able to recover from.
Get out there. Get in front of your people. Be a leader. There’s a big difference between working in the business and working on the business. When you’re working on the business, you’re leading a team.
Every organization is led by a team, not necessarily all executives but nonetheless a team. The team needs to be very clear about what its goals are, and that’s usually driven by the entrepreneur or the CEO or whoever that leader is. There are objectives for the team. When you’re out in the field talking to the rank and file, you have to make sure you are consistently communicating the same message and goals and objective.
You’re giving them clear direction and then you’re helping develop both them and their ideas. You’re helping develop their actions. You’re out in the field, you’re meeting with people and you’re listening to them. You’re providing them that clear leadership that they all are looking for.
How to reach: Gala Corp., (714) 886-1009 or www.galacorp.com
