A close friend of mine messaged me a few days ago. A new team member she had recently hired was doing such a good job, it was making her feel insecure. My friend has been working in media for over 20 years and was recently promoted to department head. This meant that for the first time in her career, she was moving away from the ‘doing’ and into management.
The situation described above is totally normal – or at least it should be. As we progress to leadership roles, it is our responsibility to build a team below us and find the right person for each role. The question of whether you hire the best candidate who may do the job better than you could, or whether you hire people that will make you look good, is the point of discussion here.
For me the answer is simple. Always hire the best quality talent possible and use your leadership position to enable them to perform. As a leader you would expect to have superior access to senior management and information than your team. Your knowledge of the company’s inner workings, relationships across the organization and industry, your experience and sector knowledge, and your ability to manage and motivate those around you are what you are paid for as a leader, not your ability to do the tasks that can be done by less experienced individuals. However, some people struggle with letting go.
One of the most common challenges I find when working with senior leaders is their inability to delegate. The belief that no-one can do the job as well as they can, and their need to maintain control over operational matters, stunts their ability to build a high-performance team. This can usually be addressed by hiring high quality people and then working behind the scenes to enable them to do their job.
A few years ago, I was coaching the CEO of a digital publishing house in Germany who was still writing code and meeting clients for sales calls. The last time I checked, these are two roles that do not come under the job description of a CEO! One of the outcomes of the coaching assignment was to hire key personnel that allowed the CEO to focus on strategic initiatives and delegate the roles he had outgrown. It sounds simple however, the CEO had the same initial concerns as my friend; that he would become less relevant to the company and that the new highflyers would potentially put his position at risk.
Consider the opposite scenario: a leader who hires people that will never be as good as he or she is in order to protect his/her position and feed his/her ego. What are the implications for team performance and for the company? How does this reflect on the person who hired them?
We are directly responsible for the people we hire and the team we build. If we build a low performing team, that is the single largest threat to retaining our position. No matter how high we go, we are accountable to someone. The CEO is accountable to the board who are accountable to the shareholders. Poor performance has consequences.
Since making the hires, the German CEO has been able to focus on building his company rather than fighting fires. My advice to my friend was to embrace her new position and use the talent within her team to build her business. That, I believe, is generally the best approach to not only protecting your position in management, but to evolve as a leader.
*** I have recently started an Instagram account called “softskillsexpert” where I post short form videos, quick tips, useful quotations and other items if use related to soft skills. Please follow me on the following link! https://instagram.com/softskillsexpert?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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Totally relevant to me. Very useful.