How to hire great leaders..
With hiring season here many companies are in the midst of creating job postings to fill essential roles and optimize the efficiency of their team. However, to have a productive and engaged team there must be a great leader to guide them. Without good leadership, employees will disengage, feel undervalued, question their own integrity, and eventually leave. Companies can risk losing some of their best employees by hiring unqualified leaders. Often times being a good leader means giving team members more autonomy to get work done and make decisions on their own. According to a study conducted by Gartner employees under autonomous leadership were 2.3 times more likely to achieve great performance when compared to those with less autonomy. According to Indeed, the benefits of autonomous leadership include:
Faster project turnaround
Better delegation
Growth opportunities
Improved employee morale
Innovative ideas
Trust and respect
Extensive professional development
How can an organization create an equitable process to hire great talent that will deliver great leadership such as the one presented above? First, it is always essential to make your expectations clear in the job description. Job postings are a potential hire's first introduction to your company. It is important that they feel welcomed and can be done by using inclusive language that outlines the position and scope of the role. Be sure to define how a person should be able to perform in a specific role without using gendered language, jargon, and idioms that could make potential candidates feel unwelcome to apply. Be sure to educate interviewers on the benefits of hiring a diverse team to avoid and counter the “just like me” bias. Make sure that all interviews are standardized to ensure that all candidates are on a level playing field. Leveling the playing field involves asking all candidates the same questions, choosing questions that focus on capabilities and not on the “soft stuff”, and maybe even having them submit work samples so that their skills can be assessed equitably.
Lastly, according to LinkedIn, it is important to establish a salary benchmark. If the salary you are offering is too low you could attract the wrong candidates but if it is too high you may scare good talent away because they may think there is a catch with that high number. Finding the proper salary benchmark requires looking through what other candidates with similar qualifications have been offered for the same position to calculate what you should pay. This process can be very complex without the help of a professional consultant. Consulting companies like Sabrina Narcisse Consulting are perfect for helping you determine that benchmark while also ensuring that your hiring process gives your company the best chance of attracting the best leaders for your team. So this hiring season be sure to equitably hire leaders and give them the room to autonomously make decisions to increase company productivity and output.
