Build the right kind of team
Emmens says employees will respond positively when management places them in a culture where they are allowed to be
flexible and creative. But that’s only part of the equation. You
also need to hire people who are comfortable taking risks and
working with less structure.
It starts with knowing exactly what you want in an employee. Emmens and his leadership team often discuss the traits
they don’t want in a person as much as the desirable traits.
“You want to find someone who is willing to be comfortable in
a rapidly changing environment,” he says. “You have to have the
mentality that your company isn’t just a place to have a 9-to-5
job.”
You can start to get a feel for a person’s willingness to adapt
and openness to change by looking at his or her resume and noting the number of different responsibilities that person has
assumed previously.
“It’s especially important as you become a smaller company
growing into a larger company,” Emmens says. “Working in a
smaller company is a very different undertaking than a larger
company. You need more of a jack-of-all-trades, someone willing
to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, going back and
doing the things you used to do, things that you might have had
subordinates doing in a larger organization. Sometimes, that can
come as a shock for someone going from a bigger to a smaller
company.”
You can look at a resume and ask questions, but there is a limit
to what one interviewer is going to be able to learn about a job
candidate. That’s why Emmens has no fewer than three managers interview each candidate separately.
During the span of three separate interviews, you will be able
to paint a much more accurate picture of a job candidate.
Following the series of interviews, the interviewers confer and
compare notes.
“We often choose those three people to solicit different
views from each of the interviews, to contrast those viewpoints to get a full story,” Emmens says. “It’s one of the most
careful things we do, finding the right people to come into the
company.
“You want job candidates to be able to have real, measurable
things they can show you that would prove they’re a good fit
for your company. But to me, the most important thing is what
they want to do, what is important to them. There are a lot of
very smart people in the world, but if what they want to do is
not consistent with what needs to be done, you’ve got a real
problem.”
When interviewing a job candidate and getting a read on the
individual, it’s as important that you give him or her an accurate depiction of the company and the job.
Emmens says you can’t sugarcoat the situation the candidate
will encounter should you hire him or her. Even if the candidate is highly creative, highly talented and seems like a perfect
match for your culture, if the circumstances surrounding the
job are too much to handle, the hire will be a failure.
“That’s probably the first thing you have to do, explain what
the company is and what the issues are,” he says. “You don’t
just tell them how wonderful everything is. You tell them perhaps ways to fail in the role. You’re not just trying to attract
them, you want to tell them the truth the best you can so there
are no surprises.
“It’s a matter of portraying the company as accurately as possible, then contrasting that against what a person can do. You
really want a person to see and be able to meet the challenges
they are going to face.”
HOW TO REACH: Shire plc, www.shire.com