June 2012.pdf - RCSA

focus: RECRUITMENT AT THE SPEED OF TOMORROW
How to hire smart people
Being interviewed to work at McKinsey
was one of the more interesting
experiences of my earlier life. Ten
rounds of interviews, rigorous analytical tests,
bizarre psychometric probes and a final cup
of coffee with a senior partner of the firm
that felt like a scene from a John Grisham
novel – and voila, I was in. The story about
how I never actually turned up for work is
one I’ll save for another day. But I do
remember one thing from the process –
McKinsey were obsessed with finessing their
strategy of hiring and retaining “smart people”.
The concept of
work has never been
more challenging.
RCSA Conference presenter
Mike Walsh is a futurist, keynote
speaker and innovation coach.
After one of the interviews, a manager
at the firm described their ideal archetype as
a “spiky integrator”. In essence, their perfect
candidate was someone who had an
extraordinary talent spike (e.g. genius chess
skills, Olympian athletic discipline or knowing
six languages), but was also capable of
integrating that skill across a range of other
capabilities and in association with other
team mates. Or to put it another way – they
wanted freaks with social skills. The only
problem with that personality type, as many
companies discovered when they put former
high flying management consultants into
leadership teams – is that spiky integrators
need to be surrounded by other super smart
people in order to thrive. Out of the fish tank,
they don’t survive too long.
For companies today, hiring smart people
is still a critical priority. And it’s harder than
ever. The digital revolution has had two
major impacts on the war for talent. Firstly,
you are now competing with the fact that
the best candidates can earn significant
incomes as free agents. With the web
offering a global customer base and infinite
opportunities for fame, being a digital ronin
or an entrepreneur has never been more
seductive. But the second impact is just as
profound. The concept of work has never
been more challenging. Traditional industries
are being disrupted, competition more
nuanced, and the demands on managers
more pronounced. Your old school spiky
integrator might be able to draw up some
rather pretty strategy slides describing your
industry – but will they have the level headed
poise to ruthlessly execute and get things
done in an increasingly ambiguous and
uncertain operating environment
In the future, I think there will be three
capability attributes that senior managers
will need to look for in their top performers:
1. Super Synthesisers
In the old days, smart employees gathered
competitive information in traditional ways
– phone interviews, focus groups and industry
surveys. Basically – you were clever if you
knew how to pick up the phone and make
some calls. Now we have the opposite
problem – too much information. Super
synthesisers are people with the capability
of scanning and processing huge amounts
of information. They are like human meta
filters. With enough technical savvy and
familiarity with blogs, social platforms and
search algorithms – they can assess the
topography of available data, see patterns
and collate them as trends, prioritise and
then act.
2. Hyper Connectors
One of these days we will laugh about
the fact people used to get fired for using
Facebook or LinkedIn at work. Hyper
Connectors are people who know how to
swiftly build and exploit relevant networks to
get things done. They won’t necessarily have
the largest collection of contacts, but they
will know how to use digital platforms to find
and nurture just the right set of people to
reach their goals. These could be internal
networks in a huge enterprise, or external
webs of journalists, industry influencers and
taste makers. You will recognise them in
meetings because they are the first to say
in answer to a problem, I think I may know
someone who …
3. Change Optimists
The final quality of the future super smart
might sound a bit soft but in some ways it is
the most vital personal attribute – positivity.
The pace of change is accelerating and there
are people for whom that is good news, and
others who, if they are honest with themselves,
view that fact with dread. You can reassure
the change pessimists about the future all
you like but believe me – in the end, when
faced with disruptive change, pessimists fight
for the status quo not for future growth. Your
best performers may not know the future,
but they should be happy to meet it head on.
What do you think Are there other attributes
of what would make someone “super smart”
in the future
You can read more articles on Mike Walsh’s blog at
www.mike-walsh.com
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