I recently had a big growth opportunity. Yeah go me! I am learning. I was contracted by a smaller organization to do some discovery work. Ya know the usual, what is working, what isn’t, where can we improve, what do people like, what don’t they like, what do they need?… All the things that organizations who do not use engagement surveys need to hear from their employees, especially when there are signs like high turnover, lots of HR complaints, lots of scuttlebutt, and/or high absenteeism (to name a few easy to spot signs). Sidebar: If you are an organization over 25 I strongly recommend a mechanism to consistently (at a frequency, annually works) and anonymously obtain feedback. So back to my story…. I was contracted for this work within a culture that was new to me, an industry I wasn’t familiar with, in a community I didn’t know. So triple blind… but I know that the issues within organizations are people issues that span regardless of where you sit. I did my interviews with the questions approved from my contract and wrote up my report. My report was balanced. There were lots of wonderful qualities and characteristics people appreciated, enjoyed, and valued that could be capitalized on. And then there were some not great things that could be explored for people to have a more fulfilling, productive, and effective work experience. Ya know the stuff they probably new and didn’t, but the reason they hired me…..It was balanced – you will just have to take my word on it.

Now I get it… change is hard. It is really painful when you see the issues, black and white on the page. I coach people after they receive some tough 360 feedback and I have been the receiver of it. I get it. You wanted to know… but now that you know you may wish you didn’t. If it wasn’t right in front of you, you could still bury your head in the sand, making up all the wonderful assumptions that keep one the hero (or victim or whatever role you are going for). Reaction 1 to my report. “Great work, a lot of wonderful info here. Appreciate the insights and recommendations.” Reaction #2 a few weeks later I got the call… “Rachael I cannot speak with you professionally or personally until the dust settles on this. This work has ruffled a lot of feathers…I believe you did what we asked you to do, but people here have a lot to wade through and are pretty upset”. Uhm What???? I of course said what a consultant is to say… “I am sorry to hear that, thank you for providing the feedback, is there something I could have done differently…”.

But WHAT??? This kind of ego response to what employees are experiencing and the change they want to see, is why the organization and leadership are in place they are in. The work may seem overwhelming when you see all the concerns (but that’s why we have consultants….). The good news is, there is always low hanging fruit – and there was plenty of that- and the only way to go is up! That is what we call a growth mindset.

What I learned professionally.

1. I dodged a bullet. If this was the stuff people gave me after a 20 minute mostly phone interviews, what was further under the covers that sponsors were really going to freak out about? How much push me/pull me would I have experienced working with them?
2. The second dodged bullet. If this is how the leaders were going to respond to data, how would their egos get in the way of the real change that needs to happen?
3. Don’t price anything with the ‘hopes’ for tomorrow. I undersold my services, hoping that would get in me in the door for the future work. It was a strategy, but one for this type of discovery work I most likely won’t do again (unless the contract included doing something after we found out what was needed).
4. I am good at what I do. I delivered a balanced account of what I heard from the people I interviewed.
5. Recommendations were not in my original statement of work. But being the diligent and eager person I am, I put in a short page of areas they could focus on. Not all I could help with… some way outside my lane, so it wasn’t all self-serving. I won’t do that again… stay within the statement of work and allow for the next conversation.

What I learned personally.

1. I am so much more confident than I was 2 years ago! Yeah!! Old Rachael would have been crushed by this perceived set back and flogged myself for months about what I did wrong or swearing to never do that type of work again. Nope. Not this one.
2. I am living more in the present. I took what I could learn from this. Did a 15 minute lessons learned, obtained third party feedback and moved on.
3. I deliver messages in a way people can hear them. They may not have liked it, but they heard it. I am kind and direct.

This was a great lesson to have after a year in business for myself. I am so much stronger and have a great story. That is the beauty of experience. The only way out is through. And I am still standing firm in the game. This may just end up being one of my great appreciative inquiry stories!

I think this might either be the lamest interview question I have heard, or the most ingenious!

My sister is a healthcare worker. Best in the business! Has patience for days with the seniors she works with. LOVES them all! But she hates, I mean despises, the business of the business. So when her company told her they were closing their doors, she was freaking out. Not because she was concerned she wouldn’t find a job in a week, but because finding that job was going to try her patience. And sure enough it did.

During an interview that she wasn’t particularly thrilled with, as they wrapped up the interviewer asked, “if you were to be offered this job, on a scale of 1-10 how likely would you accept it?” What answer do we think we will get here? 10! Okay so clearly that isn’t true or you are desperate. We all need time to process and think. A 1! Who would ever say that? My sisters’ response… “a 6.”. Well now I just don’t know what to do with that. Are you interested? Would more money make you an 8. Are you really a 1 and don’t want to say it??? What are we trying to understand with that question?

What do you think, best question or lame question?

With so many people moving jobs, being poached, or returning to the workforce, companies are hiring everywhere I turn. I won’t talk about the great resignation (save that for another post), but what I hear from business owners is “it’s so hard to find people”, they aren’t even saying good people, some just want “butts in seat”, which I guess is strategy… it falls adjacent to the solid approach to “hire for fit & personality, train the skills” – I full heartedly agree. But if you are putting butts in the seats you must be clear about the expectations (seems like a non brainer, but you would be surprised what I see) and the manager is clear about who their new hire is. We want a butt in the seat and are happy to train them, but what makes them tick, how do they learn, how do they communicate, how big of a gap do you have so you are prepared and connecting with them appropriately. Getting them up to speed as quickly as possible so they are productive and the company is meeting its objectives. This is one of the reasons I love The Predictive Index. You might get your job filled, but what is their success odds or what kind of care and feeding will they need to enable their success. PI does this, super cool. Gives you the leg up to fast track the learning for both manager and new employee.

Another interview story…A former client is interviewing, ready for a change, and she went through 8 interviews, 5 of which were technical. WHAT??? That is a lot of time to ask of a person… (I think). She didn’t get the job. They all loved her and wanted to work with her, but it was split decision on the technical, again I say WHAT??? Two things on this… hire for fit… train any skill gap… AND what does this say about your culture that people go through 8 interviews!! What kind of analysis paralysis, over engineered procedures do we have here! I say bullet dodged. Your hiring practices set the tone for the culture in the organization. Candidates are deciding if this is a culture they want to be connected to from the point of application.

If you are looking to hire people for fit with the job, the team, the business objectives, I highly recommend using The Predictive Index. Message me to learn more.