Year: 2013

It’s a quote I came across when I was coaching football and it’s just as true in business.

”The best players don’t make the best team, but the best team usually wins.”

So what makes the best team? Researchers at the Yale School of Management found that the social cohesiveness of a team is a better predictor of profit and success than the combined experience and IQ of its members. Why? It’s likely that when people feel part of a cohesive team they have a greater sense of purpose, responsibility and pride. A cohesive whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

How do you promote social cohesiveness? Activities, games, events, meeting places – anything that gets people interacting face-to-face. And you don’t have to figure it out. Get the people in your company who are naturally oriented that way to come up with the ideas. Why not create a Fun Committee?

Social cohesion. It’s not just about the people. It’s about the glue.

Your thoughts?

Michael

It shouldn’t be surprising that a company as driven by data and analytics as Google reflects those traits in its job interview process. Here’s a peek behind the curtain:

1) How Many Interviews?
After assessing the success of past hires Google found that four interviews is the optimal number. Any more didn’t lead to signifcantly more confidence in a candidate’s fit for a position.

2) Who Should Interview?
Interviewers are much more objective if they don’t have a stake in a candidate’s selection. So Google uses panels of varied employees to select workers – not direct supervisors or peers.

3) But Can They Interview?
Sure, if you train them. Which is exactly what Google does since hiring is part of almost everyone’s job. They often conduct an extra interview with a candidate solely to give employees experience at interviewing.

4) Can You Analyze Cultural Fit?
To fit in at Google you have to be innately curious. Admittedly, determining that can be as much art as it is science. But it’s important enough that Google willingly looks beyond analytics … for now.

Data and analytics. Even in the job interview process. If you’re not riding that wave, eventually you’ll get crushed by it.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Football coaches use a tool that is helpful in displaying not only who fulfills what roles, but also to spotlight where talent is thin and how they would respond if they should lose somebody.

The depth chart.

The depth chart is simply an org chart expanded to show who “backs-up” each “starter.” Of course, unlike sports teams, your business can’t employ people simply to hang around in the event that a starter gets sick or leaves. But creating a depth chart does allow you to ask and think through some important questions:

In which positions would losing a “starter” create a major problem?

How could we mitigate it? (Cross-training? Splitting and re-allocating responsibilities? Doing without?)

How do we make sure we retain our critical talent?

Many organizations have an org chart. Now go one step further: develop, monitor and manage your depth chart.

Your thoughts?

Michael

When you’re hiring, regardless of the position, you want a candidate to be confident. But how confident?

Not enough and they might not stretch themselves; they’ll underperform. They won’t constructively challenge or inspire confidence in others. Too much confidence, though, and they’re likely to create conflict. And they could underestimate obstacles and expose the organization to undue risk.

A realistic level of confidence must be best, right? Not so fast. According to social scientists, overconfident people outcompete realists in many situations.

So what is the right balance between too little and too much confidence? It’s when a person is slighltly more confident than is warranted. Enough that they stretch and probe their limits. Yet not so much that they continually go too far out on a limb … that breaks.

Now are you confident you’ll hire the right amount of confidence?

Your thoughts?

Michael