Good People Can Be Bad Hires
“Dave, you are not the messiah of wayward sales people.” My boss had a way of being direct – sometimes with a sting. She knew me and my desire to help others. I didn’t like the delivery, but she was right.
The problem was, once again, I was hanging on too tight to someone who was not making the grade. He was not meant to be in sales, and I refused to accept it.
This is a repost from April 2013
Good Person – Bad Hire
As I look back at the people I hired through the years, some turned out great and some were train wrecks. The reasons for the hiring mistakes were as varied as the people involved.
I have written a few blogs about these experiences:
I am a big believer in hiring people of high character. Though I got better at finding people of high character, I still made some bad hires.
Hiring In Four Categories
I can categorize my good hires and poor hires into 4 groups.
Wrong Person, Right Job: These are the people with the gifts for the job, but without the character. They can deceive everyone around them with a smile on their face. The good news is, sooner or later these people were exposed. The bad news is I subjected my company, my team and myself to their ugliness.
Wrong Person, Wrong Job: Admittedly, I rarely missed in this way. But fortunately when I did, their lack of character and competence were exposed quickly. This type of person usually makes it easy on the leader to get rid of them.
Right Person, Wrong Job: This type of mismatch was painful. A high character person who was just a bad fit. These are the people I wanted to save because I truly liked them, and what they stood for.
Right Person, Right Job: These are the people I look back on with pride. Not only were they wildly successful, they were also a joy to work with because they were in their sweet spot.
Good To Great
Jim Collins in his book Good To Great, says the first task is getting the right person on the bus. The second task is getting them in the right seat.
A good person can be a bad salesperson (or a bad accountant, marketer, engineer, etc.). There have been times when I’ve witnessed good people be treated poorly by a leader because they were in the wrong job.
This is un-called for when the leader was the one who put them there. If this is the situation, the leader should do everything possible to get that person in the right seat!
In my case, instead of trying to save this person’s sales career, I worked to get him in the right seat. I was able to help him find a position that suited his talents and gifts perfectly.
That person is now working for a major corporation and running a department that is only peripherally associated with sales. Years after the fact, I received a great email from this former sales person thanking me for helping him realize he was sitting in the wrong seat on the bus.
A Final Note
Sometimes people outgrow a job, or the job outgrows them. In these cases, it is still the leader’s responsibility to move that person towards what they are best suited for at this point in their lives.
It is wrong for them and for my organization to keep them there because it used to be the right place for them. It may not be an easy conversation, and it may meet with resistance.
But, it is my job as a leader to make that happen for them and for my team. These tough conversations are why they pay leaders the medium bucks.
The Bottom Line
I had to learn that good people can be bad at their jobs. As their leader, it was my responsibility to get them into the right role so they could flourish.
Sometimes that role was not with me or even within my company. The sooner I quit trying to save them and turn them into something they were not, the sooner I could truly be the leader they needed at that moment and find where they belonged.
Question:
Do you know of someone you work with who is mismatched for the job they are in?
Great subject Dave. One of the most important lessons I had to learn early is not to fall in love with a candidate and to not ‘see myself’ in him/her. There were times when I felt myself saying, ‘this candidate deserves a chance’. STOP! Maybe they do but placing them in a job they do not belong is not beneficial for them or my organization.
I kept finding myself saying, ‘right piece – wrong puzzle’.
Saying ‘no’ to good people is difficult if you are a people person, but it is for the best.
I agree and relate as well. I like people and sometimes look too hard to find a fit. I’ve done them a disservice when I tried to jam a round peg in a square whole.
Hey Dave! I love this post!
It really got me wondering what kind of person I am. I’m in the process of applying for my dream job, and now you got me thinking if the ‘seat’ I’ve chosen is right for me! I know I really want to get on this ‘bus’ but what if I’m applying for the wrong seat and I don’t even go through the selection process because of it?
What I want to know from you is, from the other side of the spectrum, how do we (hopeful candidates) know if we are in fact the right people for the job, both to increase our chances of getting in and effectively contribute to the company of our interest?
Thank you for the post, it really stirred reflection and important concerns for me!
Diana,
I’d get into the interview process and ask a couple of questions early in the interview:
“Who is the best person you ever had in this role? What did they do/traits that they had that made them so valuable?”
“If you could design the perfect candidate for this job, what would they look like?”
“When people have failed in this role, what is the most common cause of their failures?”
Based on the interviewers answers, you might get insights into how you fit their needs. You might also get insights into what type of manager you will be reporting to with question #3.
Good luck. If I can help you anymore, please let me know!!
This is great!I will take this questions into the interview! Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, and so promplty! I really appreciate it!
Have a great weekend!
Go get em!