Looking for ‘ideal team players’? | Issue #179
Why ‘Ideal Team Player’ is the best tool for interviewing top talent
OK – so you get it. You know that hiring A-Players is critical to your growth plans. It’s the difference between chugging along and motoring down the fast lane. Knowing this is one thing. Doing it is another. You may have spent time on your talent strategy and understand exactly who you’re targeting. But without optimising your recruitment and interviewing process, you may as well give up now.
Most companies have no formalised approach to interviewing A-Players (the top 10% of available talent for a given job, salary and location). Their HR team might know how to keep them out of an employment tribunal due to their comprehensive compliance knowledge. But many of them can’t interview to save their lives. There’s no process. No unified and agreed approach. HR people are generalists when it comes to interviewing the same way as managers.
There are a couple of places to start. You could do a deep dive into Topgrading – a corporate hiring and interviewing methodology. It gives a detailed and specific formula – your HR team would need to take this on and certify. But when Executives ask me how to get better at interviewing, I suggest Patrick Lencioni’s ‘Ideal Team Player’ as an interviewing methodology. It’s free, easy to use and provides a practical template for your entire hiring team to follow.
How to Create a Culture of Accountability with Mark Green
If you’re the CEO and you think people should get to meetings on time, yet you don’t, that’s never going to create a culture of accountability. Luckily for you, on this week’s episode of The Melting Pot, we have the author of the book Creating a Culture of Accountability, business and leadership coach and speaker, Mark Green.
“The reason I wrote the book is because I have yet to observe an organisation of any size and scope, anywhere on the planet in any industry, who one way or another didn’t have a significant struggle with accountability.”
If you’re thinking – well we don’t have an accountability problem, be truthful: do things always get accomplished by your team? Without drama? On a regular basis? Exactly.
If you want to learn how to make people in your organisation more accountable, don’t miss Mark explain his definition of accountability. He also shares the exercise he gets his clients to undertake about how to identify what they’re accountable for. And he explains the three elements of accountability.
Recommended Podcasts
Selling Made Simple And Salesman Podcast
The Salesman Podcast is the world’s most downloaded B2B sales podcast and is an Apple Award-winning show. It helps sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win business from them in a modern, effective, and ethical way.
Recommended Articles
A Culture Without the Possibility of Redemption Is a Toxic Culture
The paradox of social media, and so much of our technology, is that it keeps us locked in an eternal present, while at the same time creating an eternal archive that never fades away. The result isn’t just higher levels of anxiety, depression and loneliness, it also makes it harder for us to grow and evolve — which is, after all, our essential purpose at the heart of every spiritual and philosophical tradition.
Sigal Barsade Taught Me That Emotions Have a Place in the Workplace
Adam Grant: “As a scholar of organizational behavior, Sigal often described her life’s work as exploring “everything that can’t be explained by rationality.” Her pioneering research taught me that emotions belong at work; moods often spread from one person to another; it only takes one friend to avoid loneliness; and teams perform better when they show care, affection, and yes, even love.”
The Essential Art Of Smart Politics
All too often, when we think about dealing with politics at work, it conjures up toxic and negative feelings. But if you want to make big ambitious changes happen, you’re going to have to get skilled at navigating the political waters.
Recommended Reads
Working backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr
Working Backwards is an insider’s breakdown of Amazon’s approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives. Colin started at Amazon in 1998; Bill joined in 1999. In Working Backwards, these two long-serving Amazon executives reveal and codify the principles and practices that drive the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known. With twenty-seven years of Amazon experience between them, much of it in the early aughts—a period of unmatched innovation that brought products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Studios, and Amazon Web Services to life—Bryar and Carr offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was refined, articulated, and proven to be repeatable, scalable, and adaptable.
The Innovation Stack by Jim McKelvey
In 2009, a St. Louis glassblowing artist and recovering computer scientist named Jim McKelvey lost a sale because he couldn’t accept American Express cards. Frustrated by the high costs and difficulty of accepting credit card payments, McKelvey joined his friend Jack Dorsey (the co-founder of Twitter) to launch Square, a startup that would enable small merchants to accept credit card payments on their mobile phones. With no expertise or experience in the world of payments, they approached the problem of credit cards with a new perspective, questioning the industry’s assumptions, experimenting and innovating their way through early challenges, and achieving widespread adoption from merchants small and large. But just as Square was taking off, Amazon launched a similar product, marketed it aggressively, and undercut Square on price. For most ordinary startups, this would have spelled the end. Instead, less than a year later, Amazon was in retreat and soon discontinued its service. How did Square beat the most dangerous company on the planet? Was it just luck?
News from the farm
Join Dominic Monkhouse and Ian Mann for a LIVE episode of The Melting Pot
Is your business protected and prepared to deal with potential cyber-attacks?
Attacks such as ransomware are increasing at a 400% rate year on year. We see reports of significant incidents in the media regularly. Staying on top of your security is now more critical than ever.
That’s why cyber security expert and CEO of ECSC Group, Ian Mann is joining us for a LIVE session to share his expertise and insights.
Ian and Dominic will discuss the reasons behind the increase of cyber-attacks and the actions you can take today to protect you, your data and your business.
Join us LIVE, 7th March at 12:30 GMT
MEANINGFUL ACTION FOR MONDAY
Make sure everyone contributes in meetings
It’s easy to quieten down noisy people who dominate in meetings. It’s not so easy to get quiet people to speak up. You need to challenge this. Every member of your team should contribute to discussions. Make speaking up a requirement. Business is a team sport and everyone needs to play their part. Don’t pander to people. There’s a humility in taking risks and being open to conflict. You need to encourage this in every member of your team.
Upcoming events
Like Minds Nudge Ideas Festival, Exeter (UK) – 25th March
The Like Minds Nudge Ideas Festival is back in person. Join 200+ entrepreneurs and business leaders at the South West business event of the year. It takes place at the impressive Winslade Manor, just outside Exeter on March 25th. They’ve curated an amazing group of speakers and workshop leaders for you this year.
Early Bird tickets are on sale now and include all your tea/coffee during the breaks and lunch in the Georgian Manor House itself.
Very limited on numbers so don’t miss out.
Monkhouse & Company Scaling Up Workshop – New Forest – 23rd June
The workshop is your first step in the process of identifying and addressing the real challenges confronting your business. You will receive practical guidance in the essential skills that underpin manageable and sustained growth. Join five other business leaders on a half-day session with Dominic Monkhouse, away from the uproar of the everyday commercial world and look at your business afresh – to recognise your strengths, your weaknesses and your opportunities.
CEO Bootcamp with Verne Harnish and Dominic Monkhouse – 12-15th September
Author of Scaling Up, Verne Harnish is coming to the UK for the first Scaling Up CEO Bootcamp in Europe. A reinvigorating 4-day Bootcamp where you and nine other CEOs and their #2’s will spend small group and one-on-one time with Verne addressing your specific opportunities and challenges – in a setting that promotes deep thinking and relaxation.
Join Verne and Dominic from Monday 12th, September – Thursday 15th, September at Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa, near Bath (UK).
Quote of the week
“Leaders who can identify, hire, and cultivate employees who are humble, hungry, and smart will have a serious advantage over those who cannot.”
Patrick Lencioni
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.