FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- How can you ensure that my team understands my vision?
- How do you select the right person for the job?
- Can’t structured interviews impress people as impersonal, cold, or contrived?
- How will you ensure that I understand the qualities of someone that you have interviewed?
- How can we do away with conflict in our team?
- How can we make our already strong team even stronger?
- How can I justify the cost?
- When we started the business, we hired the best people we knew. The business has grown faster and become bigger than we anticipated. Do my people still have what it takes to keep up?
- What can we do when an important member of the leadership team is overly harsh on others around him/her?
- When we hire new people, there is a lag between the time we hire them and when they finally become effective. How can we shorten this time?
- How can I help ensure that my successor will be able to take the company forward once I leave?
- We have found that the most difficult part of acquiring a company is selecting a good leader to run it. What can you do to help us in the acquisition process?
- How can you help us determine if the existing team is on-board and capable?
- Can you help my company further down in the organization than just the leadership team?
- How can you ensure that my team understands my vision?
We believe that you begin at the beginning. Involvement from the team is advisable at every step. Once a vision is agreed upon, it’s important to understand how the vision is realized within the various functions of the organization. After all, functions are sometimes at odds as to how they will achieve their missions. The vision of the organization will serve as a guidepost for their efforts and ensure that these normal conflicts are resolved with the organization, stakeholders, and customer in mind.
- How do you select the right person for the job?
We use a structured interview and a test of problem solving skills. Structured interviews are a highly accurate way to identify the right talent for the right job. On average, they are 16 times more powerful than the interviews commonly used by organizations. Problem solving is one of the most important skills in the workplace. We ensure that the level of skill matches the demands of the job through an accurate and well-designed test of problem solving skill.
- Can’t structured interviews impress people as impersonal, cold, or contrived?
Yes they can. This is why we use a conversational approach. This style is genuine and helps people relax, creates trust, and makes a positive impression on the person being interviewed. This approach increases accuracy and yields a positive impression that helps attract strong candidates to your organization. It also helps those who are already in the organization appreciate that being selected for a career development interview is a positive sign for their career and for their continuing development regardless of their career plans.
- How will you ensure that I understand the qualities of someone that you have interviewed?
We will ensure complete understanding in two ways. First, you will be given a written report covering the interviewee’s characteristics. This way you can refer to this report at any time. Next, we will go over each report in depth with you to explain terms, clarify language, discuss implications, and answer questions that you have. Furthermore, even years afterward you are free to call us at any time to discuss the report and the person as different questions arise. When you use our services you do not use a test, you employ a professional.
People who are already a valued part of the organization will receive the same report and have the same access to our professionals. The interviewer normally establishes a strong and trusting relationship with the person being assessed. They are usually the one that the individual selects to provide future coaching and development.
- How can we do away with conflict in our team?
You don’t. Conflict is a part of every relationship. The idea isn’t to do away with conflict but to make it the kind of conflict that solves problems and builds long term trust. Objectively understanding the talents, and the shortcomings, of team mates and practicing conflict that yields results and stresses respect helps achieve this end.
- How can we make our already strong team even stronger?
No one’s perfect. Every person, and every team, can become stronger by answering a few crucial questions. How do we compare against an objective benchmark? What could we do to further improve? When was the last time we set the kind of goals that pushed us out of our comfort zone? When was the last time we took a hard objective look at ourselves? How well do we understand how others see us as a team?
- How can I justify the cost?
The answer to this question is something every business person is familiar with: Return on Investment. Common sense tells us that the right person for the job is more profitable than the wrong one. If common sense isn’t convincing, years of research support the value of the “right” person over the “wrong” one. Having the right person pays the organization back many times over. By some estimates, the wrong person costs roughly three times more than the right person in lost opportunity and increased costs.
- When we started the business, we hired the best people we knew. The business has grown faster and become bigger than we anticipated. Do my people still have what it takes to keep up?
When a business is new it’s common to hire people that are known to us. After all, it’s hard to have the resources for an extensive search. You may have the best talent by any measure. Even so, assessing your team objectively, determining their strengths and what they might need to go to the next level is a powerful tool. It gives you what you need to know. At the same time, your people have been given a valuable gift: insight and the development that helps make them stronger.
- What can we do when an important member of the leadership team is overly harsh on others around him/her?
Begin with an in-depth assessment. Then follow-up with coaching targeted on helping them reduce their intensity and yet still get the job done. By the way, the same can be done for the team member who is not tough enough and has trouble influencing others.
- When we hire new people, there is a lag between the time we hire them and when they finally become effective. How can we shorten this time?
When you hire someone we will make sure they get feedback and coaching. This approach will help the new executive better understand their strengths, their shortcomings, and how these fit within the organization. Our coaching helps them better understand the official and unofficial structure of the organization, the internal networks, the relationships, the politics, and the culture. They get on-board and up to speed faster. This helps them avoid the “doldrums” that hit at predictable intervals for up to a year after they enter the organization.
- How can I help ensure that my successor will be able to take the company forward once I leave?
The leader of a business is always faced with what will happen to “their” organization when they leave. Having your successors assessed by us, an objective third party, takes the guess work out of selecting the best leader. This helps put your mind at ease, builds trust, and helps prevent side effects, like loss of morale, that so often crop up when a change in leadership is about to occur.
- We have found that the most difficult part of acquiring a company is selecting a good leader to run it. What can you do to help us in the acquisition process?
We can be a part of the due diligence process or we can be engaged once the organization has been acquired. In-depth assessments of the key individuals involved at either of these points helps identify strengths and weaknesses in the leadership team.
- How can you help us determine if the existing team is on-board and capable?
Once again we rely upon objective, accurate assessments. Assessment not only of the individuals, but of the team. Furthermore, we can help ensure that the team is aligned with the future direction that leadership wants the company to take.
- Can you help my company further down in the organization than just the leadership team?
Yes, the basic principles of vision, talent, and alignment can be addressed at all levels of an organization and, in fact, should be. We address each level in ways that achieve the ends sought, but take into account the most efficient, cost-effective way to accomplish goals at these levels. The goals never change, but the means of understanding them can (e.g., revenues v. number of parts rejected by quality). Regardless of the approach that we take, you can expect high quality results.