Easy Questions Just Got Tougher
Tell me your strengths.
That is the question every candidate enjoys answering, more so than the typical tell me about yourself opening question that amazingly makes so many people uncomfortable.
Well, I hate to the bearer of bad news, but this nice tell me about your strengths question in today’s market actually requires careful thought, not just some off-the-top-of-your-head response. Here is an example:
Tell me about your strengths and give me an example (evidence) of why you think this is a strength. If you respond “I’m a good communicator” or “I build strong teams” then be prepared to offer one or two carefully selected examples that seem to match with the hiring company’s selection criteria or even their characteristics of the ideal candidate.
And, of course, when they ask about your weaknesses, be equally prepared. On this one, I want to add a special note for clarity. Candidates know this question is coming so why do so many seem to freeze when it is asked? They stare blankly ahead, they wiggle, they fidget, then they fumble and stumble. Not being ready with an example or two and a well thought out positive explanation of how you mitigate your weakness or weaknesses, hurts many candidates in the face-to-face interview process. I know most outplacement consultants caution their candidates to stay away from anything negative but such avoidance, or lobbing a response that can only be described as “too cute by half” can actually damage the credibility and the authenticity of the candidate.
Here are some other questions that candidates should be on the alert for:
- What was your biggest mistake in your last job? Being a leader is tough. Mistakes are made. It strains reality to insist you have not made any mistakes. Have some examples and, more important, an explanation of lessons learned.
- How will your references describe your leadership style? Provide an example that will explain their answer. Note: Not knowing what your references are going to say, not briefing on the position they are being called about, or not reminding them of your accomplishments when you worked together, is almost as big a recruiting sin as giving the search consultant or employer their wrong contact information.
- Explain your value proposition. Why should we hire you? Make the case and give us some examples of why you think you will be valuable. You had better be prepared for this one! We produce a detailed Position Prospectus for each search we conduct. This document contains a list of requirements, including academic, general knowledge and specific experience. In our searches, candidates know the culture and the performance expectations as well as the hurdles that must be overcome. In explaining their value proposition, a candidate must be very specific and connect their experience and their accomplishments to those performance expectations.
In other words, as market conditions become more demanding, especially in healthcare, and as industry consolidation continues, the competition for the best jobs will only intensify. You have to be super prepared for each interview. You can’t just wing it.
Recruiting: There Is No Single Formula for Getting It Right
A central question for executive recruiters, or people who hire executive recruiters, is this: are you filling an order or are you engaging in a comprehensive journey to find a qualified executive who will “fit” in the client organization and deliver sustainable value?
As I have written in the past, the vast majority of recruiters working today function more like fulfillment specialists. They work from “job orders” frequently without ever spending any time with their client, digging into their culture, or understanding the personalities of a candidate’s future colleagues. This lack of cultural awareness is a big reason why the turnover rate for managers and executives recruited from outside a company approaches 40 percent by their second year of employment.
The fulfillment specialists do a decent job evaluating whether the candidate meets the job specs — degrees, certifications, number of years and types of experience, that sort of thing. While that part of the screening process is important, it is a job that a junior level researcher or computer screening programs can do. Besides, very few candidates fail because they did not have the requisite degrees, experience, etc. The vast majority leave, or are forced out, because they did not “fit” and that is the hard part of management and executive recruiting.
People who believe that computer algorithms will minimize this turnover risk are whistling past the graveyard, so to speak.
“There is not a formula. I have learned that you cannot judge a book by its cover,” says Aileen Lee, founder and partner of the venture capital firm, Cowboy Ventures, who was the focus of the Corner Office profile in The New York Times on Sunday. When she evaluates potential deals to back, Ms. Lee knows that success or failure of her firm’s investment will hinge with the CEO. “You have to get under the hood and spend quality time with someone to understand what they’re really good at. If you don’t then you are only going to back extrovert Type A people who are good at selling… And it is not clear that’s a requirement for building a great company.” Or, from the executive recruiters perspective, being an effective leader who can adapt to the ways of their new employer.
To be successful in recruiting the right talent for a client, or for your own organization, you must have a deep understanding of the company’s culture as well as their leadership needs — what they will be expected to deliver in terms of results and the type of individual who will be a respected part of the team. That is where it starts. From there you explore their experience, their successes and failures and, most importantly, their values — how they go about the work and how they treat people – their customers and employees.
There are many people in this world who call themselves executive recruiters but most just record the job order and fill it. The number of recruiters who “get it right” are few and far between, even when you include the national firms. The real executive recruiters who are part of that elite group know that a successful search requires an appreciation for how the specific business works, extensive research on the client and candidates, a strong sense of curiosity and, most importantly, excellent interviewing skills.
The latter can make the difference between good and great in the world of executive search where bigger is not always better.
Editor’s Note: Prior to entering the healthcare field in 1976, Mr. Self spent more than five years as a newspaper editor, reporter and an investigative journalist for newspapers in Tyler, Lubbock and Houston, Texas.
Individual Accomplishments vs. Community Cohesion
“You’d think that schools would naturally nurture deep community bonds. But we live in an era and under a testing regime that emphasizes individual accomplishments, not community cohesion.”
Thus began the focus of conservative writer David Brooks’ New York Times Column on Nov. 27. Brooks argues that schools have become all about individual accomplishments, not community cohesion. “Even when schools talk about values, they tend to talk about individualistic values, like grit, resilience and executive function, not the empathy, compassion and solidarity that are good for the community and the heart.”
Harvard researchers conducted a study of 10,000 middle and high school students who were asked if their parents cared more about personal achievement or whether they were kind decent people, 80 percent of the students said their parents cared more about personal achievement — individual over the group, Brooks wrote.
So, if this is what grade schools produce, I wonder what sort of leaders will emerge from the graduate schools of management in 15 years or so. It is hard to cultivate character when you are only in it for yourself.
Senior Executives: You Can’t Not Change
“You always need to keep young ears.”
— Singer Sir Tom Jones
Sir Tom Jones — Thomas Jones Woodward, OBE — is a Welsh-born singer whose rugged good looks and massive voice propelled him to fame in the mid-1960s, first in the UK and in the early 1970s in the US, but it was his “young ears,” his keen sense of the changing tastes of those most likely to buy his music and attend his concerts, that kept his singing career successful for such a long time.
Now 75, Sir Tom is recording new songs. He recently released a new CD, Long Lost Suitcase, and continues to perform more than 200 concert dates a year. Clearly, he has adapted and changed to appeal to the tastes of newer, younger fans while tweaking his portfolio since the vast majority of his fans are much younger than he is.
He is beyond financially secure but he keeps working because that is who he is — a man with an outsize passion for his work.
During his career he has sung all sorts of music — pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, soul, and gospel – and has sold more than 100 million records. Along the way some things that should not change did not change, he has been married for 58 years to same woman, his teenaged sweet heart Melinda Trenchard. While his resume of success, personal and professional, is impressive, it is his ability and willingness to adapt that makes him especially interesting to me.
And here’s the central question: what does his story, his outlook on adaptation and change and his incredible career have to do with a senior executive’s career brand, or a blog on career brand management? A lot, actually.
In my business sector, healthcare, not a week goes by that I don’t hear compelling evidence of executives who have failed to keep “young ears” — to stay abreast of changes in process, style and rapidly changing market needs of a customer base that is rapidly changing.
I doubt seriously if there are any hard and fast percentages for the number of executives over the age of 50 who are steadfastly resistant to changing their ways of getting things done — how they communicate, how they project themselves in personal interactions, how they engage employees, customers, employees and key stakeholders — in short, how they lead, but I am willing to safely bet the farm, that number will be surprisingly high.
Why does any of this matter?
It matters because unless leaders in that 50-plus age group plan to retire early, or to be sent unceremoniously out to pasture, they must take the time to embrace not only the structural changes that are occurring within their industry but to assess how to adapt their leadership style. Gone are the days when a change-resistant CEO could rule, or a senior executive survive, believing that there was no other way but their way. “This is the way I have always done it with success in my career and I do not see the need to change now.” Gosh, I have heard that a lot. Too much.
If you are one of the many who fall into this category, please understand that your younger customers, your young employees, including physicians, could probably not agree less.
When the drivers of an industry begin to revolve around the reality that the scope of change is expanding and the speed of change is accelerating, it is not the time to plug your ears and take a deep dive in the muck of intransigence.
Personal change is tough and that journey usually gets hung up on the front end because the offending executive is clueless that he or she needs to change. Along the way, this process is easily derailed because many executives are not willing to publicly admit they need help changing what had been a bedrock dimension of who they are as an individual. “If I admit that I have a weakness, I wouldn’t be surprised if my board began to doubt my judgment, my ability to run the business,” one uneasy CEO told me last year. “I am not comfortable taking that risk.”
But the truth is, what got you to where you are today, will not get you to where you want to go. (Marshall Goldsmith, PhD).
There are more than enough executive coaches who are capable of helping you navigate these waters, including the hard part — how to confide in your board in a positive way that will win their support for your change journey.
Editor’s Note: Nancy Swain, a member of the JohnGSelf + Partners team, has more than 20 years of experience helping executives adapt to new operating and market conditions. She is a master’s prepared psychologist and a former instructor at SMU, Dallas. To learn whether Nancy is the right coach for you, contact her. Nancy@JohnGSelf.Com
David C. Pate, MD, JD: My Secrets to Building, Leading a Team
Editor’s Note: David C. Pate, MD, JD, FACP, FACHE, is the Chief Executive Officer of St. Luke’s Health System, the market leader in Boise Idaho.
Dr. Pate is a graduate of Rice University with a degree in Biochemistry. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine. Following graduation he entered the private practice of Internal Medicine before pursuing a law degree from the University of Houston in 1996.
Prior to being named as CEO of St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Dr. Pate’s executive responsibilities included serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in Houston and as Chief Executive Officer of that organization’s flagship hospital in the Texas Medical Center.
He regularly writes an insightful blog on a range of subjects, from leadership to population health management. The blog appears of the System’s web site.
In my pre-Thanksgiving blog, Can You Build and Lead Teams?, I asked for readers to provide me their thoughts on this important subject. Dr. Pate’s response, I believe, is a great, real-world exclamation point. In other words, spot on!
Thank you David for your continued inspiration.
My secrets to building and leading a team are:
- Hire right. You (John) have written extensively about this and I agree with your advice, so I will not go into this further.
- Develop your trust bank with the team and add to it whenever you can – the team won’t follow you if they don’t trust you. You have to be a role model, your acts must be consistent with your words, and you must treat people fairly. If you don’t, people see through you and won’t trust you. You especially have to act consistent with the values of the organization.
- Ask for their advice, and if you don’t take it, explain why. Oftentimes, the most difficult decisions I have to make are when my team is divided. I convene them, listen to all arguments, then tell them when I will make a decision by, make the decision by that deadline and then explain the basis for my decision, including that there was no right or wrong answer, how grateful I was to have their input so that I could make the best decision possible, what my decision was, and why. This lets the team know I appreciate them, I heard them, and I carefully considered their input and I respect them enough to explain my decision to them. It also can serve as a coaching event to help them in their own decision making.
- Spend time with them. Just like a marriage, you have to spend quality time and make the effort to know them, listen to them, and understand them. That is why I always make time for leadership retreats. Even at a time when things were very busy and many of my team wanted to have the time back for their work, I remained committed to these retreats, and afterwards, these same executives admitted that it had been time well spent.
- Provide honest and clear feedback. During their annual performance reviews, I give each executive a 2-3 page letter. I start off by telling them how much I appreciate them. I list out the things that I think were significant accomplishments and strengths of their leadership competencies. I also conclude with a list of constructive criticism, opportunities for improvement, and things that I would like to see them focus on for the upcoming year. On the other hand, when I have met to counsel an executive who will not be able to remain with the organization unless his/her performance turns around, I meet with that person to personally review everything, but because I know the person will hear and retain very little of what I tell them, I also give them a letter in which I specifically list out the problem behaviors and what it will take by when in order to improve the performance sufficiently that they can keep their job. I also include things that I or the organization are willing to do to support them. Not only does this promote effective communication, but it adds to the trust bank (I have never had an employee I have terminated sue the organization) and it provides a nice record. I have found that even my best performers don’t fully trust the wonderful things said about them during the performance appraisal if there is not something pointed out that they can do to improve.
- Recognize accomplishments. I spend time to make sure I personally thank my team members for special accomplishments.
- Know them personally. It is important to understand what is going on in their life, who their family is, and what is important to them. Recognizing that they are special people worth knowing, and not just employees adds to their engagement and their willingness to follow you when the times are tough.