How to have a HIT...

Published on February 1, 2018

How easy is it to predict an executive’s likely success in a role?

It is a question that dominates talent hiring and development. It has also pervaded my thoughts for the last 27 years of my professional career.

The answer I believe is both easy and hard.

First, the easy: traditional recruitment briefs tend to be dominated by attributes such as:

track record in a similar industry
track record in a similar function
relevant qualifications
desirable personality traits such as leadership, drive, inspiration.

Clearly, these have their place – of greater of lesser importance depending upon the role. You would probably prefer an experienced actuary to oversee your pension fund in the same way that you might expect a qualified surgeon if you need an operation.

Rather than predict success though, in my experience, these factors tend to predict competence – an ability to maintain status quo; not be fired – rather than achieve outperformance.

Next, the hard: recruitment has also included other elements which have tended to be subordinate to ‘easy’ attributes – afterthoughts rather than forethoughts:

Hearsay (informal referencing)
Intuition
Testing

I have isolated these HIT methods because my experience has shown them to be the most consistent predictors of success. Clearly, a larger control sample and less subjectivity could validate these observations further. Nonetheless, many clients and colleagues, when asked, tend to concur.

It may therefore be worth expanding briefly on those three factors.

Hearsay is a dangerous one. It relies on the impartiality, veracity and qualification of the informant. Being so subjective it also requires a sufficiently broad range of opinions to ensure that they are adequately ‘triangulated’. Managers, peers, subordinates, independent directors, customers, suppliers, competitors, regulators, advisors and investors can each provide valuable insights.
Intuition by its nature is nebulous. There are those who might be ‘a good judge of character’ or in racing parlance ‘know how to pick a winner’. So clearly it is desirable if not only the recruiter but also the hearsayers possess these attributes. It may be nearly as important to assess their credibility as it is to assess the candidate’s. Intuition must also include situational awareness: the organisation culture, market imperatives, shareholder/stakeholder viewpoints, etc.
Testing is a subject all on its own covered in much detail elsewhere. Empirical evidence does indicate that an appropriate set of competency, psychometric, judgemental or other tests can greatly inform the decision-making process.

In conclusion, it would seem that executive hiring is comparatively easy; achieving a successful HIT rather more illusive.

By Jonathan Hawes