In my last blog, “Are They on the Right Seat”, I talked about how people sometimes are not in the right job. How do they get in the wrong seat? The hiring process obviously. I am sure many of you hire the best candidate for any job opening but is it a smart hire?. However, sometimes fear creeps into people’s thinking and decision making.
At my current place of employment, we seem to lack qualified people to be supervisors. I have heard the plant manager numerous times talk about how stupid a supervisor is and they can’t believe they are in the job. I wanted to look up at him and say, “Well, you hired them!” It is generally not one supervisor being pointed out, but several of his hires. I started to think about why that is. Obviously, I am not in the interview process so I don’t know how they interviewed.
One of the most overpowering human emotions is fear. I started to think that this might apply to when the plant manager hires his supervisors. He might have a fear that if he hires someone smarter than him, they might take his job or pass him up on the corporate ladder. With that fear, the plant manager might only look to hire “yes men”. Next thing you know, you have a management staff that cannot make a decision without you. Talk about stressful.
Here’s the problem with that process. Upper management is watching you and evaluating your hires. If you are wondering why you hired them, don’t you think upper management is wondering the same thing? That might get upper management thinking about why they hired you.
The great coach, Vince Lombardi, even acknowledged that you need smart people to succeed. In his famous speech, “What it Takes to be #1” he says the following: “Some guys play with their heads. That’s O.K. You’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business.” I’d like to think everyone’s main goal is to be #1 at what they do.
Let go of that fear of being passed up on the corporate ladder by someone being smarter than you. Hire those smart candidates. It will be less stressful if you have a competent management team. More importantly, they might just help you move up the corporate ladder.
