Monday, spent the day with a brilliant group in San Francisco, hosted by Lance Gimbal of Gimbal’s Fine Candies (Gourmet Jelly Beans). We spent the day talking about the research of Elliott Jaques and sipping cappuccino (pumpkin) in the conference room at Torani headquarters.

Question:
You talked about the role of the Manager Once Removed (MOR) in the recruiting process, that the MOR should play an active role in assembling a qualified candidate pool for the Hiring Manager to choose from. But what if the Hiring Manager doesn’t like any of the candidates assembled by the MOR, instead, insists on hiring a candidate that failed to pass muster by the MOR. Now aren’t we back to a spitting contest? How does the MOR press the Hiring Manager without escalating a power struggle?

Response:
It takes two people to have a power struggle. It is not the role of the MOR to overpower the Hiring Manager by virtue of pecking order. Rather it is the responsibility of the MOR to bring value to the decisions of the Hiring Manager. Working a candidate pool is not a casual conversation. It is not, “here, I talked to a bunch of people, pick one from these five candidates.”

The conversation between the MOR and Hiring Manager starts much earlier as, together, they draft the role description, discuss the hiring criteria, develop intelligent interview questions and create a decision grid.

This is not a power conversation, but the MOR guiding the Hiring Manager, bringing value to the decision process.

On to Seattle. Working with Tom Leonard’s Vistage groups Tuesday and Wednesday.