Henry Ford once said: “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
Another writer put it this way: “The fact that you have been knocked down is interesting, but the length of time that remain down is important.”
Most Leaders will have experienced probably not one but several failures, however, the successful leaders are those who do not wallow in their misfortunes. They make the best of them, learn any hard lessons and get back on their feet as quickly as they can.
But their ability to do so often depends on their ability to get good people around them. For them selecting the right people is, in my view, even more important than how they manage them. Why? Because if they get the right people, then they won’t have major problems later on.
They have to begin with the raw material in order to create a winning team. Therefore I suggest that leaders are looking for people who, in addition to having the appropriate experiences and competencies, but probably more importantly, have the following ‘attributes. They must:
• Know their thoughts: This takes time and a desire by both leaders and team members. Too often people accept positions without due thought and soon find they do not identify with the leadership style of management. The outcome often is that they leave quickly, which this is costly for both parties.
• Be loyal to them: Team members must try to become an extension of their leaders and their work. They must realise that if they are going to progress within the organisation then they must embrace the vision and corporate objectives and work in unison to achieve them.
• Be trustworthy: Team members must not abuse authority, power or confidences. You have only to look at some of our political and banking leaders to see how difficult this is and how some can become quickly corrupted.
• Be discerning: Effective team members are those who can be trusted to make decisions for their leaders, with the confidence that they are doing so because they know the thinking of their leaders and proved their loyalty and trustworthiness.
• Be good thinkers: There is no doubt that two heads are better than one, and that the suggestions of team members will be listened to provided they have been thought out with the best interests of the organisation in mind.
• Be able to follow through: It is one thing to have good ideas but totally another to have the ability to take authority and see them through to reality. This means taking the coat off and getting down to some very hard and at times unrewarding work.
The problem is that these attributes can be difficult to show on a CV particularly when far too many people when applying for jobs, take a matter of minutes rather than hours (and I mean hours) to write them.
They are then surprised, and often hurt, when they do not even get to the interview. And even if they do, they are often unable to demonstrate them because their whole thinking process and preparation for the interview has been on rehearsing their experiences etc.
Of course the real problem here is that appointments are based on candidates being asked to give examples of their competencies rather than using their competencies to demonstrate their attributes (as outlined above).
It is not that they can’t do the job it is because that they have not read the advertisement properly, particularly in relation to the attributes that are being asked for. They then submit a generic CV expecting the Interviewer to ‘read into’ it the attributes that they think are implied by articulating particularly their experience.
So if you want to be more successful at those interviews for posts with progressive organisations which are being led by successful leaders then you need to spend time writing your CV in terms that will get these attributes across to those interviewing you.
Once leaders select the right people they then need to connect with them, and once that connection is made, they begin, as a team, the long journey from failure to success.
It’s rather like what happens in a railway yard. The freight cars sitting on the tracks have great value when they are fully loaded with cargo, when they have a destination and even a route to follow. But they have no way of getting anywhere on their own. They have to hook up to the engine. And the process they follow to become a working unit is interesting. It begins with the engine which:
• Moves onto the same track as the freight car it is going to pick up
• Backs up to the car, makes contact and connects
• Repeats this process until all cars are connected to each other and to the engine
• Together they start moving towards their destination
We are going through very difficult economic times when many organisations are going out of business. But it is only a matter of time before Henry Ford’s comments will re-emerge and successful leaders will, with enhanced intelligence, be looking for the right people to join them on their journey to success.
In the meantime you have the opportunity to put yourself on the right track in terms of competencies and attributes, in readiness for the upturn. If you do then there you will be putting yourself on the right track where connections can, and will, be made.
Gerry Gilpin is the Managing Partner in Gilpin Executive Search and Development, one of Northern Ireland’s leading independent consultancy practices assisting clients align their people to their corporate goals. To contact us visit www.gilpinesd.com or Tel: 028 9076 9900