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Loren was not happy. “I have a person on my team, a mid-level manager, who is always late on hiring. We get busy around here and she is always one person short. And we know ahead of time when we are going to be busy. But hiring is always something that can be put off, until it’s too late and you really need the person.”

“What do you think you should do?” I asked.

“I always end up jumping in. At the end of the day, I am the one who drives the recruiting process for her.”

“So, you are the manager-once-removed for the open position. You end up driving the process. Who makes the final hiring decision?”

Loren (MOR)
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Hiring manager
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Open role

Loren had a puzzled look on her face. “Yes, I am the manager-once-removed. But, the hiring manager has to make the decision. Sometimes, I will make a very strong recommendation, but the hiring manager ultimately has, at minimum, veto authority on the hire.”

“And, what if I told you that was the way it works best. You are the manager-once-removed. Your role is quarterback, the hiring manager makes the final decision. So, what are you frustrated about?”

“I guess I am not frustrated with being the quarterback. I am frustrated because the process is always late,” Loren realized.

“But, if you are truly the quarterback, you just have to get your hiring manager into the huddle earlier.”

“You are really piling on the sports analogy,” Loren complained.

“I know, I know, couldn’t help myself. Football starts soon,” I defended. “So, how could you get your hiring manager to the huddle sooner?”

Loren thought for a bit. “We know when we are going to be busy. Perhaps I should draw up a personnel staffing plan, that gives us lead times to hire, so we get the new hire out of training about the time we get busy.”

Orientation opens next Monday (July 6, 2015) for our Hiring Talent Summer Camp. Participants in this online program work through the hiring process under the direction of Tom Foster.

This is the only program that combines an understanding of Levels of Work with Behavioral Interviewing. The research on Levels of Work is powerful science. The discipline of behavioral interviewing is the methodology for its application. This is the only program that puts these two ideas together in a practical framework for managers faced with Hiring Talent.

Pre-register now. No payment due at this time.

Purpose of this online program – to train managers and HR specialists in the discipline of conducting more effective interviews in the context of a managed recruiting process.

How long is the program? We have streamlined the program so that it can be completed in 3-6 weeks. The self-paced feature allows participants to work through the program as quickly or slowly as they wish.

How do people participate in the program? This is an online program conducted by Tom Foster. Participants will be responsible for online assignments and participate in online facilitated discussion groups with other participants. This online platform is highly interactive. Participants will interact with Tom Foster and other participants as they work through the program.

Who should participate? This program is designed for Stratum III and Stratum IV managers and HR managers who play active roles in the recruiting process for their organizations.

What is the tuition? The program investment is $499 per participant. Vistage members receive a $100 discount.

When is the program scheduled? Pre-registration is now open. Orientation for the program is scheduled to kick-off Mon, July 6, 2015.

How much time is required to participate in this program? Participants should reserve approximately 2 hours per week. Participants with available time can work through the program even faster.

Pre-register now. No payment due at this time. Please indicate if you are a Vistage member to receive $100 credit.

July 6, 2015 – Orientation Opens
Week One – Role Descriptions – It’s All About the Work

• What we are up against
• Specific challenges in the process
• Problems in the process
• Defining the overall process
• Introduction to the Role Description
• Organizing the Role Description
• Defining Tasks
• Defining Goals
• Identifying the Level of Work

Week Two – Publish and discuss Role Descriptions

Week Three – Interviewing for Future Behavior

• Creating effective interview questions
• General characteristics of effective questions
• How to develop effective questions
• How to interview for attitudes and non-behavioral elements
• How to interview for Time Span
• Assignment – Create a bank of interview questions for the specific role description

Week Four – Publish and discuss bank of interview questions

Week Five – Conducting the Interview

• Organizing the interview process
• Taking Notes during the process
• Telephone Screening
• Conducting the telephone interview
• Conducting the face-to-face interview
• Working with an interview team
• Compiling the interview data into a Decision Matrix
• Background Checks, Reference Checks
• Behavioral Assessments
• Drug Testing
• Assignment – Conduct a face-to-face interview

Week Six – Publish and discuss results of interview process

Pre-registration is now open for this program. No payment is due at this time. Please indicate if you are a Vistage member to receive a $100 credit toward the program.

On one hand, most managers would agree that planning is important, but on the other hand, most managers avoid the process. Here are the biggest excuses I hear.

• I don’t have time to plan.
• Things change too fast, so the plan is out of date before it’s even finished.
• No one pays attention to the plan, once it’s written.
• No one even looks at the plan, once it’s written.
• No one cares about the plan, once it’s written.
• No one can find a copy of the plan, once it’s written.

Have you ever written a grocery list, then left it at home when you made your trip to the store. Likely, your shopping was still 90 percent effective without the list. Why?

It’s not the plan, it’s the process.

If you intend to avoid the process, that’s fine. But, if you are looking for a short (3-page) process that includes a 2015 goal tracking sheet, just ask. It’s a Word doc, so you can modify it to meet your needs.

I have to thank all my tenacious readers as we pass ten years and enter our eleventh year of publishing Management Skills Blog and Hiring Talent Blog.

Hiring Talent just passed 2,000 copies sold. It would be a dismal failure in traditional publishing, but a triumph for me, because I don’t have that many friends.

On tap for first quarter 2015, a new book, stay tuned for details.

So, I am signing off for this year. We will see you in the new year. -Tom Foster

I first published this holiday message in 2005, based on a short afternoon meeting on Christmas eve.

As Matthew looked across the manufacturing floor, the machines stood silent, the shipping dock was clear. Outside, the service vans were neatly parked in a row. Though he was the solitary figure, Matthew shouted across the empty space.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.”

He reached for the switch and the mercury vapors went dark. He slid out the door and locked it behind.

I have been reading about this latest management fad, holacracy, for some months now, but it was Gregory Ferenstein’s post on July 11 that finally sent me over the edge. For the record, here are two other articles that tee up this management craze. Zappos says goodbye to bosses by Jena McGregor and a more reasoned explanation, published in the Economist, The holes in holacracy.

Also note that the word holacracy is a registered trademark. It is a brand, which always raises red flags in my world regarding its methods. Is it really something new or is the word made up to muddy the already turbid waters in management consulting.

But, I promised to talk about what Tony Hsieh is doing at Zappos and provide a more reasonable context for the structural decisions he is making.

First, “getting rid of bosses.” Boss-ing is something siblings do to each other. Indeed, it is a power struggle. The descriptions of holacracy appear to equate boss with the word manager. I am always amused at where the power lies in the manager-team-member relationship. It is like telling a kid that they have to eat broccoli. But, it is the kid who will determine if broccoli will, in fact, be eaten. Being an effective manager has very little to do with power.

“There are no managers in the classically defined sense. Instead, there are people known as “lead links” who have the ability to assign employees to roles or remove them from them.”

When I look at the “classic definition” of a manager, that person is vested with some very specific authorities. How is this “lead link” different?

• Determine who is on the team.
• Determine who is off the team.
• Set the objective.
• Assess the team member’s effectiveness in the context of the objective.

“Zappos and Robertson are careful to note that while a holacracy may get rid of traditional managers (those who both manage others’ work and hold the keys to their career success), there is still structure and employees’ work is still watched. Poor performers, Robertson says, stand out.”

So, now I am curious. Just exactly who is it that is doing all the watching if it’s not the manager? Is “lead link” another word for manager?

So, what is all this talk about abolishing managers?

“while the system lacks traditional managers, it does not mean that leaders won’t emerge.”

No shit. Leadership is an observable phenomenon, it happens. And when an organization selects its managers, it had better be paying attention to qualities of managerial leadership (as opposed to political leadership, parental leadership, spiritual leadership).

Apparently, Tony wants to provide the appearance of the absence of managers, by defining broad latitudes of discretion within the various levels of work at Zappos. That is what hierarchy is all about. Hierarchy is not about being the boss, it is not about command and control. Hierarchy is about establishing the boundaries of discretionary judgment within a level of work.

Discretionary judgment is required to make decisions and solve problems appropriate for that level of work. And most teams can handle the problems and decisions that sit within their level of work.

Here’s the pinch. When the problem is difficult or the decision is hard, on the upper end of that level of work, who does the team go to? That would be the manager. Being a manager is NOT about telling people what to do (boss-ing), it is about bringing value to the problem solving and decision making of the team. And that’s the role of the manager. At Zappos, those people exist, and Tony knows exactly who they are. I don’t care what he calls them.