Hire for attitude. How you identify the right people for leadership roles really depends on what area of the organization you’re looking for. More than anything, we’re in a service industry, so we look for people who possess the right attitude. You can tell those who possess the right attitude, those who are customer-service-focused and bring a positive attitude to the plate. Whether leaders or nonleaders, in any position, we want to make sure the attitude traits are there because, as you often hear, you can teach skills but you can’t teach attitude. The first review we do of candidates is on their attitude and customer service. The second is based on the skill sets they bring.
Our interviewing process is more laborious than maybe some others. We have a two- to three-phase interview process. One of those phases involves a peer committee. You want people who are willing to work alongside both managers and nonmanagers, so we have peers come in and participate in the interview process. That gives you more input, more people at the table to make a judgment call on a candidate. It also allows the candidate to get a better idea of the people that they will be working with. That peer process has paid dividends for us.
Ultimately, you want to make sure the people you are grooming for leadership roles are goal-oriented. We want people who are structured by goals, people who have their own visions and drive to be successful.
Achieve balance. When you do an interview, if you have an opportunity to pick Candidate A over Candidate B, and all other things are equal, you may have a lack of analytical types of leaders versus emotional types of leaders, and if everything else is equal, the tiebreaker would go to whatever the organization needs. You want to pick your leaders based on the overall traits and skills they bring to the table, experience included. The fact of whether they’re analytical or emotional, that’s a secondary type of function you consider.
We’re very fortunate to have a good pool of candidates in suburban Indianapolis. Our turnover with our leadership team is minimal. If we have one manager leave during the year, that is a surprise. It’s just far and few between that we have turnover. But when we do have turnover, we are able to fill the positions through our own internal mechanisms. We don’t rely on outside management search companies.
How to reach: Johnson Memorial Hospital, (317) 736-3300 or www.johnsonmemorial.org