(Em)Power to the People! I recently was asked to provide a reference for a former employee of mine. No big deal, right; however, I found the person asking the questions to be very engaging because they really knew the job and were able to link the reference questions directly to the job. I really liked this approach because for once, I could give a reference that was 100% relevant to the job at hand. The job in question was for an HR Manager type role, and the referee was trying to get a feel for whether or not there was a cultural fit with the job and the person. After having described what they were looking for, I was asked the following question, “Based on the position described, and your experience with ‘Jamie’, what do you think is the most important thing that ‘Jamie’ will require in order to be successful in this role?” empower Wow – what a great question I thought! Knowing that Jamie had applied for a management, (re. leadership) role, and knowing that ‘Jamie’ is a very driven and outcomes focused person who is a top performer, I told the referee that ‘Jamie’ must be given the autonomy to do the job. It was as simple, or as difficult, as that. This organization was hiring someone to take on a leadership role. Therefore, they needed to give the person they were going to hire the autonomy to do the job effectively. Far too often organizations say they want leaders, they hire the ‘right’ person, and then they micromanage them until they become a turnover statistic. I proceeded to engage the referee in further dialogue (ok, I probably pontificated a bit) about why this element of autonomy/empowerment was so important. I told them that Jamie, much like other top performers, needs to see the big picture. They need to see that connection between what they do and where the organization they work for is going. As well, because they were hiring someone for a leadership role, they needed to provide the big picture in terms of what the broader organization and...
Posted on: Sun, 09 Feb 2014 07:55:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015