Interviewing for Skills is Today’s Coronavirus! with David Kinnear of Vistage

Everyone in a hiring capacity has made a wrong hire in their career. I believe that this is a direct result of hiring for skills first. Here’s the scoop, a person’s skills can change, but you can't change who they are. And technical abilities are not a clear indicator of passion in the work.  

Today’s Quote: 

“Values should underpin Vision, which dictates Mission, which determines Strategy, which surfaces Goals that frame Objectives, which in turn drives the Tactics that tell an organization what Resources, Infrastructure, and Processes are needed to support a certainty of Execution.” — Mike Myatt

Our guest today: David Kinnear, Executive Mentor & Group Chair of Vistage International.

Dave Kinnear is a Business Advisor, Mentor and Executive Leader Coach. Through his affiliation with Vistage Worldwide, Dave convenes and facilitates peer advisory boards of Business Owners, Company Presidents, General Managers and Chief Executives dedicated to becoming better leaders who make better decisions and achieve better results. 

Dave is also an executive-to-executive mentor to Executive MBA students at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business and a coach for the Center for Entrepreneurship at CalState University, Fullerton.

Today we are going to discuss

• Why a skills-based interview is dangerous
• values alignment is critical
• The framework for a successful interview

Why do people interview for competency/skills?

• Competency is easy
  • This is what people focus on 
  • Today's workers need mastery, purpose and autonomy
  • Shared values aligns well with the way decisions are made within the company
  • We all want to do what's right for the tribe
• The soft stuff is not easy.
  • Most CEO’s don't know what the real values are
  • Profitability is what is really valued
  • Transparency on the financials are missing
• Management decisions are the values
• Culture is the way things get done around here
• The way things get done is by making decisions
• Decisions are made reflective of the values

How do we Hire for Values?

• Running, Knees, shoes analog
• Know what the real values
• Ask questions to determine the person’s values
• Uncover the person’s values
• How someone works with others and makes decisions
• Ask questions that validate the core values
• Let the silence do the heavy lifting!
• When they have the values
• Reveal the mismatch in what they have now and where you align
• Skills can be learned
• The person you want is not on the street
• Hire them

Rick’s Nuggets

• Design questions around the corporate values (Amazon's leadership principals) 
• Ask behavioral questions and dig deep. This uncovers the truth about who the person is
• "Walk me through a time"... Then ask why, why, why?
• Do not ask leading questions
• Ask the question and shut up!

Key Takeaways

• · Values are the foundation of an organization's culture.
• · An organization’s leader has only one critical job, and that’s to actively manage the culture
• · The leadership team must believe in and live the values every day