Long gone are the days when people were rotated through a position to find a match, or when a competitor’s star player signed on for the big bucks only to fail miserably in meeting very high expectations.

A bad hire today implies such high costs, that the future of a company may very easily be in the hands of the person in charge of hiring the best candidate for the job.  

Today, you have to look beyond the resume when hiring a leader, because normally that piece of paper is more filled with air than a hot air balloon. 

Presently, you have to hire leaders by measuring their cultural compatibility.  Instead of regarding only a certain set of skills, first you have to consider the person’s behavior and attitude towards the meeting planner’s environment.

In fact, there are 4 criteria that are crucial when hiring or promoting someone to a meeting planner or assistant’s job:

Attitude

It is not easy, but is a must, to identify a “can do” leadership attitude.  This requires observation, open-ended scenario questions, and self-confidence demonstrations.

Behavior

This one also requires lots of observation and assessment, because it impacts everyone within the company. 

You have to decide if you need an aggressive, results-oriented, fast-paced leader, or a stable, dependable, and caring one; this based on what the meeting planner or assistant’s job requires, not on your personal preference.

Competencies and cultural compatibility

Every job needs a given set of competencies.  Define the competencies and behavioral attributes that best fit the position and see which candidates have them. 

 The candidate who best fits the competencies needed is the most compatible with your company.

 Skills

You should hire a skilled meeting planner or assistant, but do not make his or her skills the decisive factor. 

Most candidates will be able to learn most skills; however, not everyone is capable of changing or learning a new leadership attitude, behavior, or competency.

A leader should develop a system that measures a combination of these 4 criteria to find the right candidate. 

This process is so vital that many companies hire a renowned leadership speaker and consultant to guide them through it as well as to help them design the right behavior, values and competency assessments, to conduct email and face-to-face interviews, and to thoroughly analyze resumes when hiring and promoting individuals, all of this in order to lower the chances of making a bad hire.

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According to a top leadership speaker, here’s how to get into the permission mentoring habit successfully:

Ask permission

Always ask people if they are interested in being mentored.  Never assume everyone wants to become a leader, because this is not true.

Some individuals are not interested in becoming contagious leaders, and some others may not be interested in being mentored by you, and this is fine, everyone is entitled to choose what works best for them; thus, it is only wise to make sure you are investing your time in people who truly want what you can offer them.  

The good thing is that a very powerful force is activated when you ask and someone says yes, a new level of commitment arises, and the results are remarkable; in other words, a new individual is born.

Create parameters

Your mentoring must have well-defined and approved boundaries.  If the goal is for the employee to become a contagious leader, focus on the habits such a person requires and reach an agreement as to what is expected.   

Before beginning the mentoring program, ask the employee to self-assess each habit, and compare it to your assessment.  Talk about the progress you both expect to see, and establish time limits for each session and for the totality of the program in a way that lets you both get the best out of it.

Focus the parameters on activities and behaviors instead of on results, because the first are the ones that will guide the person towards the desired result, while many outside circumstances can affect the second. 

Schedule uninterrupted time

There should be a time exclusively devoted to discuss, review, measure, and offer feedback.  Honor the process, and your commitment to being a contagious leader and a mentor, by giving it meaningful time.  Never allow the person to feel forgotten or neglected.

Employ involved recognition

A mentoring program is a great opportunity for you to practice the habits and qualities of a contagious leader.

Keep an eye on your attitude, focus on the person’s strengths, and employ involved recognition as much as possible.  Pay attention and identify as many opportunities as you can to recognize the actions and behavior of the person you are mentoring.

This is key to strengthening the confidence in their ability to become contagious leaders, and will teach them how to use it themselves.   

Never stop measuring

Your job as a contagious leader is to develop many other contagious leaders, and you have to make sure the persons you are mentoring are moving in the right direction. 

You must keep track of how each one of them is doing and of how many you have at a certain stage of development, so as to be able to control and anticipate when these individuals are ready to move on.

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Intelligent leaders work on eradicating the conducts and actions that discourage the behaviors of contagious leaders in order to make the good arise by itself.

Here are 4 wise and simple strategies to stop energizing the contained and to start turning your company’s ways into contagious leadership ones:

Stop praising erroneous behaviors. 

True contagious leaders are congruent; constantly, in every decision they make. 

Let’s say a director whose style emulates that of a tyrant, who cares only about the bottom line, who is three-times divorced because work is his religion and expects it to be everyone else’s, gets promoted to vice-president.  What do you think is being praised here?        

Make it right to be a contagious leader.

In order to develop contagious leaders you have to commit to doing it.  

Just decide that contagious leadership is the right way to go, decide that it is ok to be a leader instead of just a manager, and embody that decision every single day and in every single thing you do. 

Before you know it, your behavior will become… contagious. 

Get personally involved in the process. 

Developing a contagious leadership culture project cannot be delegated; you have to be deeply involved in the process if success is your goal, even though this may not be your only role. 

In order for such an initiative to work, you must be a contagious leader yourself, you have to honor and reward contagious leadership behaviors and examples, and you should teach others to become such powerful leaders.

This is basic, because the contagious leadership approach implies a big cultural change for the majority of companies, and it doesn’t work hands-off, as management does.

Select a CLO- Contagious Leadership Officer

Give a hand-picked someone¾as advised by in the lines of a leadership speaker and advisor¾ a meaningful title, a big office, a lot of money, and unlimited authority to put into action, measure, and honor success all the way through your organization.

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We recently traveled to Baltimore to visit relatives and participate in a fund raiser for the Baer School, which Bev’s sister Debbie Kastendike, her uisband Graham and their sons Eric and Christopher and his wife Ashley are deeply involved with.  The plan was to have an affair at the Legends of Sport Heroes right near Camden Yards where to Baltimore Orioles still play. A special treat would be an appearance by Joe Flacco, Quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. With all the controversy about and around “star athletes” these days I wasn’t so sure that the QB’s appearance was anything worth getting all excited over. Boy, was I wrong!

Joe Flacco impressed each of the 200 people there, including the biggest doubting Thomas of all, me.

Joe Flacco and the Kids of The Baer School

Joe and more Kids

Eric Kastendike, Joe Flacco and Christopher Kastendike

Joe Flacco and Ashley kastendike

Joe and another Baer School Charmer

To watch him was to learn about him. He began quietly, appearing a bit shy at first. Then as we entered the room where the kids were he began to be more lively. For the last picture above he actually asked if the little girl would like to have a picture taken. He didn’t presume she wanted the shot, nor did he walk away relieved that he avoided yet another inconvenience. No, he asked if she would like a picture.

Most of these kids had no idea who Joe Flacco is, nor did they care. They only knew that he enjoyed being with them, paying attention to them, talking with them, smiling with them. They loved him for that and so did the delighted people that came to help the Baer School.

That night, we all saw a side of Joe Flacco, and perhaps other “star athletes” that made us revisit our attitudes toward all athletes. Perhaps they are not all thugs and bad boys. Perhaps a few, like Joe Flacco, are really good guys that just dress up like athletes and happen to get paid a lot of money for doing so. This doesn’t make them bad. In fact, it just helped prove a really important point for all of us. Despite what the world may look like from time to time, good guys really do finish first.

Be Well & Be Contagious!

John

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• emotion,
• energy, and
• enjoyment.

Practice them and watch your passion rise.

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The Leaders Institute

George Obst and Bob Ditta, former Chairman and President of Dental Services Group

George Obst, DSG former Chairman, and Ditta were there to contribute to The Leaders Institute, a collaboration between the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce and John  Hersey International. It’s mission is to provide business leaders with an opportunity to tune into a high level leadership conversation by exposing them to a variety of businesses and business leaders. The opportunity today was for these local leaders to learn from two leaders that led their team to purchase the Dental Services Group business and then grow that business, in a highly competitive category of 14,000 Dental Labs serving 118,000 Dentist, to double it’s size in fourteen years, without acquisition.

When Obst and Ditta, along with two other DSG executives, purchased the business through a leveraged buyout, it consisted of 34 Dental Labs across the United States doing approximately $30 Million in annual revenue. When the group sold DSG in 2005 it’s revenue’s were in the $60 million range.

This Livingroom Leadership session covered topics like:

• the 4 original partners are as different, behaviorally speaking, as different could be. How were they able to allow those differences and still run a successful company. George Obst offered that the solution was a clear delineation of responsibilities, largely tied to the individuals strengths. Ditta added that there was a remarkable consistency in values. Each of the partners was committed to growing the business through employee relations and development. Unlike many of their competitors, DSG took on training, at all levels, like no other company. The strategy was to help the employees learn more and achieve higher levels of knowledge and competence in their jobs. The belief was that it would actually lead to significantly lower turnover levels, more loyalty and thereby increased customer support and service. It worked!
• Creating Your Own ceremonies. Each year DSG spent gobs of money to put on it’s annual leadership meeting in Scottsdale (where else?). The teams would arrive with great expectation, primarily for the awards dinner. A pretty extravagant affair for nearly 300, the recognition awards always stole the show. Obst and Ditta agree that “recognition has always and will always be the key to motivation and employee loyalty.” Obst encouraged all  the Leaders Institute participants to create ceremonies, even if they were solo-preneurs.
  
• Performance accountability and reviews. Everyone at DSG, from the person working on a bench crafting, grinding and polishing the caps ordered by our dentists, to the Chairman and President, had annual goals. And, the leadership team, some 65 strong were trained to manage to those goals. Every employee had an annual review and the subject of goals was always discussed. As Bob Ditta put it, “Goals don’t lie. You either achieved the goal or you didn’t. If you didn’t, the why is relatively unimportant. How we can do better next quarter or next year is the key.”
• Educational goals. Everyone in the company had to have an educational goal. What were they going to do to get better at their job? DSG was willing to invest in these classes and seminars because, in keeping with the values of the 4 partners, training and development would pay dividends way beyond the cost.
• Listening. Listen to your customer, listen to your prospects, lost customers and employees. Then have a system in place where what you have heard can be acted upon. This is the bullet to excel, be the best. You will hear and observe  everything you need to dramatically improve on a regular basis.

Dental Services Group implemented strategies that were way ahead of the competition, at the time. We look at these strategies as sound, basic leadership habits that work every time. Well, I don’t know about every time, but these sure did work for George and Bob and Dental Services Group.

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Leaders know that to get what they want they need to take aim at the goal, passionately pursue it and every day set an intention to focus on it.

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While in the gym the ‘you can’t do this’ saboteurs showed up. The same thing happens to leaders.

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Rarely have Beverly and I been so touched by a book as we have been by The Go-Giver. It took us all of two hours to read and we immediately asked author Bob Burg to join us on a complimentary teleseminar to go deeper on his 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success. It is Wednesday January 13.

Register NOW! Even if you have schedule challenges, register anyways. Only those registered will receive a link to the recoded interview.  Go to:

http://www.johnhersey.com/stratospheric_success.html

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How many organizations have failed for lack of leadership focus? Contagious Leaders pick a course and remain focused, even when it is a bit uncertain at first.

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