Leadership In Action: In Focus—Aquiring Talent—The Value of Hiring for Team Fit

DIFFERENT STROKES

Dave Crisp, president and CEO of Crisp Strategies, which specializes in developing better leadership and people management practices, has noted that lists of competencies required for a leader almost invariably exceed what one could possibly find in any single individual. However, rather than tossing out the overly long competency model, Crisp views it another way— all the competencies are needed, but because they are too much for one individual, one must look across the team. In this case the right thing to do is to hire for difference so that together the team members will cover the full list of competencies.

Hiring for team fit in terms of competencies is fairly straightforward and easy for hiring managers: simply identify ...