What’s Your
Corporate DNA?
Hiring People That Match it is Invaluable
By Mark W. Sheffert
January 2002
I suppose all of you have heard of at least a couple of these great leaders: Jack Welch, Winston
Churchill, Vince Lombardi, Abe Lincoln, and Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Do you know what they all have in
common (besides being some of my favorite people to read about)? Their management styles were
vastly different, although each person’s style worked during his time and in his individual situation.
Where they all excelled, however, was in their ability to understand the people they served
and the people who served them. Often, the decisions they made on behalf of those people weren’t
necessarily the popular or obvious choices, but each of them had a finely tuned “gut check” about
people in general, and about a person’s character and potential capabilities, that turned out to be
pretty darned good.
I just read Jack Welch’s autobiography, Jack: Straight from the Gut where he wrote that when
he was CEO of General Electric, he spent about 60 percent of his time dealing with people matters.
Based on my experience and that of other executives, it seems that this is pretty much on target. And
after you’ve racked up some years of dealing with people stuff (okay, I’m speaking for myself here),
you reach a point where you develop that gut feeling about what’s right for your organization and its
culture, the chemistry of its people, and what makes it click. From that point on, everyone you pick
to join the organization has to have some of those certain characteristics in order to be a good fit.
Usually, the only way to get comfortable and know that a job candidate possesses those
characteristics is to do lots of interviews (or in Lombardi’s case, lots of scouting and tryouts). I’ve
even been accused of growing mold on people before I’ll make a hire decision because our interviewing
process takes so long - up to six months in some cases. But even after a careful selection process,
someone may not work out. And if there are executives out there who say they’ve never made a
wrong hire, they probably still believe in the tooth fairy, too.
I always thought that being able to pick the right people was an art, but I recently discovered a
job-fit tool that turns the selection process into more of a science. Now, I’ll admit that I have always
been suspicious of “warm and fuzzy, get-in-touch-with-your-center” stuff. (During my tenure as a
banking executive, I took required psychological tests, but suspected they were only used to find out
if were really nuts - it seemed that no good ever resulted from them.) But I guess even this old dog
can learn new tricks. My good friend, Eldon Oldre, president and CEO of CFG Insurance Services,
introduced me to his company’s Profile service. It allows an organization to capture its characteristics
and chemistry or, as I like to call it, corporate DNA.
This tool not only profiles individual employees, but also the entire organization and its
divisions and teams. In other words, it not only gives you information about the employee’s
personality, but also whether he or she fits with your corporate culture, the job, the division,
and the team.
This fall, everyone in our firm took a one-hour Profile survey and a 20-minute Performance
Indicator test. The surveys are done electronically over the Internet, so we received the results within a
short time. The technology used to compute the results makes this tool inexpensive, so small- and
medium-sized companies can afford to use it.
The Profile assessment survey measured each person’s thinking style and pace (can the person
do the job?), occupational interests (will the person be motivated to do the job?), and behavioral traits
(how will the person do the job?). The Performance Indicator measured behavioral tendencies in
critical job-related competencies such as productivity, quality of work, initiative, teamwork, and
problem solving.
When the surveys were completed, individual results were given to each of our associates for
their own knowledge. I received an aggregated report describing our organizational characteristics,
and the specific characteristics of each division or group. I now had an objective, scientific description
of my firm’s corporate characteristics. Perhaps I had known some of it intuitively, but my eyes were
opened to a new knowledge of my firm’s personality when I saw its DNA fingerprint.
Now our job candidates are asked to take the Profile survey to predict their job suitability and
make sure they are well matched with the work they are hired to do. For instance, if I’m looking for
someone to join our investment banking division, I look for certain characteristics that differ from
what we want in our strategic advisory or recovery divisions. We’ve developed a profile of each team,
measuring 12 “team factors,” including patience, precision, ambition, composure, and orientation
with regard to results and quality. We know what type of person would fit into each team, and also
whether an individual’s characteristics and chemistry are aligned with those of our overall
organization. Thanks to this tool, I’ve become more efficient at screening candidates, reducing
the amount of time I spend interviewing and getting better results.
The knowledge I’ve gained about our firm is also improving my management capabilities. I
understand better why associates behave the way they do, how to make their teams more productive,
and how they respond to job-related stress. I know which incentives, rewards, and conditions are most
compatible with individual motivational styles. And this new knowledge helps me coach associates to
improve in certain areas if they aspire to be top performers in their divisions.
With these results, we are mapping out our firm’s “best practices.” We are beginning to
describe the characteristics of our top performers so we can develop benchmarks for hiring more
people like them and promote internally with more assurance of success. It’s turning all our associates
into better leaders and our firm into a better firm.
I don’t know an executive who hasn’t ever jumped into the swamp, lured by a candidate’s
polished looks, smooth answers, or impressive background. But at the end of the day, if that person
doesn’t fit into your corporate culture, neither one of you is going to be happy. I know that finding
employees is one of the biggest challenges facing executives, but for my service business, it isn’t simply
finding employees that matters, it is finding the right employees. I read somewhere that replacing an
employee costs about three times his or her wages in lost productivity, training, and recruiting costs, so
I obviously want to avoid making any hiring mistakes. Using Profiles or a tool like it to analyze your
organization’s DNA could save you a lot of time and trouble.
Understanding your organization’s characteristics and chemistry is as important as strategic
planning or knowing your marketplace. As Vince Lombardi said, “Business is a very complex
machine, all of whose components are people, and as in a football team, it is vital that people mesh
and gear smoothly.”
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