Each year, teams in the NFL look to the draft to improve their organization. Arguably, this is the single most important step any team can take to move from ordinary to extraordinary. Just as the prior season exposed glaring weaknesses, draft day provides the opportunity for process improvement.
In many ways, organizational hiring is much like the draft. Interviews serve as combines, where talented individuals can show their stuff. Managers act as coaches and scouts, keeping a keen eye on talent. In many instances, those with little prior experience become rookies who work to learn the system in a never-ending quest to take their organizations to the next level.
Like the draft, there are also busts. Having hired hundreds of people, I can attest firsthand to my share of Ryan Leaf's—prospects with immense talent who never panned out. Fortunately, I have a greater share of Maurice Jones Drew's—players that have eclipsed all possible expectations.
Draft day serves as a chance for organizations to build from the ground up. These are players that become the functional foundation and can define a team for a decade or longer. This same philosophy can be used to effectively build an organization.
By recognizing needs, drafters can draw in talent and train them to meet those needs. By establishing a solid training program, calibration process, and quality assurance, any organization can become an industry leader, just as any team with a similar philosophy can reach the playoffs.
So just how does one go about finding the talent necessary to take an organization to the next level? Often it comes from the least-expected places. During my tenure of running claims organizations and quality assurance processes, some of the best results came from those outside the insurance industry who possessed the skills to execute on basic blocking and tackling.
From campus recruiting to hiring those with experience in fast-paced, goal-oriented organizations both within and outside the insurance industry, there is no shortage of talent. But like the draft, not all players are created equally.
Rather, it takes a combination of intuition, research, evaluation, and a little bit of luck to land the top players of tomorrow. Far too often a disproportionate amount of emphasis is placed simply on background. It's the mindset of “Hey, he was a great college quarterback so he'll flourish in the NFL.” Don't forget that he played his college ball in a spread offense, which may actually become a liability at a higher level. Rather, focus on what the person brings to the table.
As John Wooden once said, “I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.” In reflecting upon hires I have made over the years, this statement rings true more often than not. Certainly I have hired successfully from within the P&C industry, but the lion's share of success has come from the outside, more often than not from candidates with no experience whatsoever.
By focusing more on attitude and ambition, it is possible to dramatically improve results. Technical skills can be taught; personality and drive cannot.
Organizational success is built from the ground up. Just as a GM builds up an organization each April, so too can business leaders use this philosophy to reach the next level. By effectively utilizing the very concepts behind the draft board, managers can identify their weaknesses and seek out the skills to address this need. It's not an overnight process, but then again neither is winning the Super Bowl.
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