We shall not discuss here any of the usual topics of how to increase employee engagement, how to control attrition, how to fit people to roles – we expect your HR people know this stuff. What should you, as CEO/promoter, be concerned about?
Case:
When Polaris was still very small, 20-30 crore in revenue, the promoter (Arun Jain) went out of his way to hire exceptional people at the very top. He placed an ad in the leading business newspaper with the headline ‘If you aren’t making 30 lacs today, no need to apply’ – this was in the mid-90s when a lac was a lot of money! He was signalling that he wanted only proven performers, and he was willing to pay top dollar for them. He did not specify a role or job description – and he hired, not one but, four people in that cadre, without specifying what they would do. He reasoned that there is enough for people to do, they will figure out what needs to be done, and do it.
Are you willing to hire someone who will be your equal, your partner, not just your subordinate? Are you willing to let someone else help shape the destiny of your company? At this level, that is what good people want – a chance to go down in history.
If your vision is exciting enough, the kind of people you want, who want to chase that kind of vision, will come to you! You may not even need to go looking to for them.
Don’t look for resumes heavy with accomplishment – look for people who want to scale the mountain – the mountain doesnt care about your resume! It may even be that you don’t select the team, the mountain will select the team!
At this stage in your growth, you will need to get people as good, as capable, as yourself; more capable if possible. This is regardless of whether you have identified yourself as the constraint ot not. Growth requires leadership at the top, the more capable the better.
Exercise:
In a program, we often play this game: spend 5 to 10 minutes trying to persuade a co-participant (not from your own company) to come work for you. Your goal should be to persuade him that your vision is more exciting than anything he currently has!
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Do not be hung up with titles and grades – if someone wants to be called Most Exalted High Executive Vice President, call him that – what do you care, it doesn’t cost you anything! in fact, a good practice is to let people call themselves whatever they want to – it is all for the external world, anyway – you know what the person is, and what he/she is doing. Besides, it tells you something about the person, what he/she wants to describe himsef/herself as to the external world.
One small company we know bought a Mercedes and parked it outside the office, and let anyone in the office ride it – the message was, ok, now you have the thrill of a Merc, now get back to work! The same company allowed its executives to give themselves whatever title they wanted – if you want to be a VP, fine, call yourself VP. Now get to work!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How to manage the expectations of people in terms of compensation, title, promotion, etc.?
A: There are 4 dimensions to manage: Compensation, Grade, Title and Role. These are all different, and each is independent of the other. We get into trouble because we link them for no reason.
Role is what the organization needs – today, I need you to go talk to customers, tomorrow I need you to drive someone to the airport – people should be willing to do whatever the organization needs. Compensation should be tied entirely to market value – if your skills, capabilities, are worth X in the job market, that is what I should pay you. If your skills decline in value, you should be paid less (difficult to do because we make the mistake of linking compensation with grade and role and title). Grade (the internal positioning within the organization) should represent your level of compatence as a professional – your growth in capability should be reflected in your grade. Titles are for other your mother-in-law, so they can be proud of you. Nobody in the company should care what your title is.
Q: Should the company strive to offer life-long employment?
A: No. It is not the company’s job to employ you for life, or even to manage your career. It is your career, you should take ownership of it. The company can, and should, offer opportunities – the rest is not for the company to manage. Every professional should see themselves as a ‘MeEnterprise’, not as an employee. As for lifelong employment, how many companies even last 50 years these days? A professional should expect to outlive his employer!
Q: Who in the organization should be responsible for senior-level hiring?
A: The CEO, the promoter. Next to sales, this is the most important job the CEO should take upon himself/herself. Remember, it is about selling the vision, nobody else would be credible doing that.
Second Orbit 