Selecting to balance the team
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In ‘Selecting to make a difference’ we looked at how an unexpected vacancy can offer great opportunities to review how the team is structured and how the talents of your team are utilised and developed. Now let’s look at another opportunity a vacancy offers – the opportunity to bring in a new skillset, personality profile or professional background.
How well do you know your team?
When you think of their different characters, approach to work, professional background and expertise, how diverse are they? Sketch this out for yourself and then look at it in the light of the work, initiatives and problem solving the team is undertaking. Are there times when a different perspective would be useful? If so, how might you adjust your person specification or job advert to reflect the additional ‘added value’ that it would be great for you and your team to acquire?
What’s the prevailing culture in the team?
Have your team worked together for so long that they might have fallen into the trap of ‘group think’ making the acceptance of change or innovation harder to grasp or be excited by? If this is the case, what characteristics or perspectives might a new recruit bring which would be useful to freshen up everyone’s thinking?
If you are unsure of the team’s personality and work profile or find it difficult to vocalise, consider undertaking some team building activity in which you can all share your preferences and working styles and discuss as a group what changes would be beneficial for you all. There are many psychological and work style profiling tools which a talented facilitator can build into a team building session and, who knows, it may even help overcome some of the occasional tensions that build up in even the best performing teams.
Personality profiling can also be a great recruitment tool. Using the same tool as you have for your team building event will help you see more easily what additional value different candidates might bring to the team, as well as help you to position the role and their potential place in the team accurately with your candidates. In a recent exercise, we undertook some senior management profiling and coaching to help our client identify how the current leaders contributed most effectively towards the challenging change agenda the organisation faced as well as identifying where there were skill deficits which future recruitment might fill.
Just one note of caution though; when considering what missing skillset, personality type, work style, or professional background you might introduce to your current team, think carefully about how realistic your expectations are about the level of change or innovation just one person can bring to a well-established team. It’s one thing for people to tell you that a ‘breath of fresh air’ would be beneficial and another for them to realise that this may upset the status quo in ways they hadn’t appreciated. Failure to appreciate what else may need to change, including your own leadership approach, to ensure success lies behind many a recruitment failure with the new team member being blamed for ineffectiveness or poor performance.
TAKE AWAY
A vacancy always offers positive opportunities for change and development including the make-up of the profile of the current team. By scoping out and really understanding the depth and strength of the current team’s talents and working culture – and discussing this with them – you will be able to see what new perspectives would be useful from your new recruit. Being realistic about your expectations will also ensure you don’t inadvertently set them up to fail.