Executive Hiring Mistakes
Last year, during the pandemic, we experienced the most bizarre executive hiring environment in the history of global business. While formal job descriptions with clearly defined duties, executive experiences, expectations and competencies were well documented by each hiring organization, the one thing that was clearly missing in many cases was in-person human interaction in the interview process.
While it was no one’s fault that Zoom interviews became the new normal last year, we may be headed toward a major executive talent purge once this virus is under control perhaps as early as the summer of 2021.
Executive search is a very complex process that includes both art and science. The science includes careful screening, testing, evaluating, comparing, and judging each candidate’s fit relative to the requirements in the position description. The art of search deals with more of the subjective areas such as cultural fit, body language, leadership style and gravitas.
Many organizations last year hired executives they have never met in-person and these same executives are leading teams today that they have never met before. This is a recipe for failure.
Again, no one is to blame here as businesses need to move forward in these uncertain times, however, the consequences of mis-hires of executives who are not a good fit culturally or from a leadership style perspective will become more apparent as direct in-person human interaction becomes more prevalent in 2021.
What can organizations do right now to deal with this potential problem?
Clearly, it’s been hard for businesses to forecast demand for their products and services during this pandemic. However, as we now have nearly a year of experience in operating in this environment, organizations need to take an extra hard look at factors beyond the coronavirus that may be impacting their business, and the hard truth may be that they have the wrong people in some very important leadership roles especially those on-boarded over the past 12 months.
We recommend organizations carefully examine business performance of these new executives against the goals they have been assigned. Also, solicit feedback from teams about how each leader is motivating and providing tools for success. As businesses begin to come together in more face-to-face settings, paying close attention to how their leadership style either fits or conflicts with the culture of the organization will also be of paramount concern.
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