Episode 44: Building a Leadership Pipeline

We know you couldn’t get enough of last week’s episode, so come along as we keep calm and carry on with our conversation on commerce, or, to be more clear in category, hiring a developing your current or desired business team.

We know from last week’s full court press from Dr. J that in our current climate, each and every enterprise is having to engage with less than ideal conditions when it comes to finding new hires and attempting to develop and train the good folks you already have. With the fog of uncertainty we all seem to find ourselves in these days, we’re even seeing more and more people jump ship from their current jobs to new ventures and industries, so are you ready if one of your team leaves you or will there be a leadership vacuum in that loss? (You don’t want to end up like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes did after Teddy Pendergrass split from the group in ’76 after a money dispute; it’s a hard fall from gold records to slumming it on a 2017 Soul Train Cruise and having to do a wine tasting on the Lido Deck with Peabo Bryson getting top billing)

Not to worry – our boys Sid and Keith are here to save the day and they’ve got another dynamic duo’s decisive dissertation to direct you: Geoff Smart and Randy Street’s “Who: A Method for Hiring.” (Found where all books are sold and maybe your local library as well. Local libraries – they’re not just places for the homeless to sleep or take sink baths; they also have books)

Step One: Prime Your Pipeline. Examine the existing environment in your business by literally taking score: create a scorecard for your company’s positions and have your employees, to paraphrase New Orleans rapper Mystikal, “Show me what you workin’ with.” By actually taking score, you really see who is doing what, who should be doing what and what might not be getting done at all. It’s a good day when we get to use “Who” to help answer “What,” isn’t it?

Step Two: Start the Search. Finding the fit that meets your needs is not going to be fast or easy, especially in this economy. Long story short: whatever you’ve done in the past probably isn’t going to work or apply to current conditions; you’ve got to up your game and meet the market where it’s at now. You’re going to have to be out there and every day, you’ll be hustlin’ (like Rick Ross or Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony – your choice) and doing everything you can to find the best right people: marketing the opening, reaching out for referrals, and communicating the culture for your organization to complete your crew.

Step Three: Improving the Interview. This one’s actually incredibly simple: be intentional in your interviewing. Our boys have some primo practical pointers here and putting down anything more in these notes would violate our status as card-carrying members of Team #NoSpoilers.

Step Four: Settle the Score. Yes, our simple scorecards from Step One are back again (like a horror movie villain or Jujubee on seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race … four times is enough, queen). Using the scorecard helps eliminate the emotionality from the process, which you’ll need to find the most excellent employee for the job.

Of course, if you want the first-rate facts and most incomparable intelligence from this week’s show, you’re going to have to actually listen to the podcast – because, if you haven’t learned by now, these show notes are, at best, loosely constructed outlines that occasionally tell you what the episode is actually about amongst a hodge-podge of alliteration, outdated pop cultural references and a surprising amount of facts about the life and career of Teddy Pendergrass – RIP to a real one.

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