In my last post, I wrote that One of a CEO’s primary roles is handling difficult people.  This is because . . .

The CEO is the Chief Talent Officer of the company.

Yesterday, a CEO I work with shared how he has been managing talent at his company.  He had two stories.
Talent Downer. In the first story, he told me about “Dave,” a senior analyst who has been with the company for two years.  Dave  comes in around 11 most mornings (and leaves with the others at 6), has a reputation as a bit of  a prima donna, and turns out average quality work. His boss sees Dave as a negative influence in his work-group.  Despite counseling and feedback, there has been no change in Dave’s behavior.   My CEO friend relayed that, after hearing of the problems with Dave yet again, he had finally given Dave’s boss an ultimatum — “either you have the conversation (to terminate him), or I will.”
Talent Upper. Then he told me the story of “Sarah,” a PhD he recently hired to fill a  key senior position.  My client has been “blown away by the quality of work and fresh perspective Sarah has brought to her role — she has exceeded my expectations, which were high to begin with.”  On top of that, everyone has noticed a complete shift in a veteran employee who has been reporting to her.  They notice he is focused and turning out excellent work himself.  Together, the two are developing a completely new product offering for the company.  Sarah has raised the bar and influenced others around her to do the same.
This CEO relayed these stories to me because for the last nine to twelve months he has been very focused on the talent in his organization — insisting that everyone must be “raising their game” — learning, improving, growing.  He, along with most other companies, has had to make some recession-era cuts, but he has been pressing hard to position his company to exit the economic downturn as a leader in their industry.  And he knows this will be achieved through people — thus his focus on talent — terminating those that are a mismatch, growing the rest, and hiring the best he can find.  Interestingly, his company posted a significant increase in sales in November.
In Execution, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan reinforce this notion, writing that

. . . the right people have to be in the right jobs.  Yet so often they aren’t.  What accounts for the mismatches you see every day . . . [boils down to] one absolutely fundamental shortcoming:  The leaders aren’t personally committed to the people process and deeply engaged in it.

Leaders are accountable for the caliber of people working under them.
So how can you start today to be more engaged in developing and managing top talent in your company?
A starting point is to take a hard look at someone you know is “on the bubble.”  The test I like to use is the one put forth by James Collins in Good to Great.  Ask these two questions:

1. Knowing what you know now about this person, would you hire them again?  AND
2. If this person came to tell you that he or she was leaving to pursue an exciting new opportunity, would you feel terribly disappointed or secretly relieved?

Based on your answers to these two questions, what do you need to do . . . today?  (I’m not advocating terminating someone during the holidays!  But what do you need to put in motion today so this individual can move towards a position that is a better match for them — inside your company or out?)
Next, how do you go about identifying great people that will add significantly to your talent pool?   Top-notch talent is out there — eager to work.  So once you’ve sifted through the candidates and brought them in for an interview, I strongly recommend using “Experiential Interviewing” techniques (see footnote) to get past the typical beauty pageant veneer of canned job interviews.  Any candidate can have a slick resume and great answers to typical interview questions.  Get past all that!  Probe to uncover these three attributes:

1. Ability. What are they really good at?  I like to use the “95% criteria” — is this person better than 95% of the others out there doing the same thing?
2. Attitude. Do they possess a “whatever it takes” attitude?
3. Accomplishment. Does this individual have a track record of “getting things done?”
4. Passion. Do they love what they do?

In my experience of hiring a lot of talent, if you get these four ingredients in a person, they will be virtually unstoppable.  They’re the best at what they do, they exercise that ability to accomplish great things, and the whole time they have a big grin on their face because they’re getting to do what they love.  And guess what, they want to keep getting better!
What activities on your calendar this week are devoted to your role as Chief Talent Officer?
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Note: If you’re not familiar with Experiential Interviewing, call me and I’ll walk you through it, helping you grow your talent at hiring top talent — free!
FORWARD THIS TO A LEADER.