Thomas E. Ambler, Senior Consultant, CSSP, Inc.
Strategic Planning Expert
Recruiting disciplined people requires a well-tuned filtering process that determines if there is a fit of the candidate’s skill sets and passions with the job requirements of the organization and determines whether the candidate is self-disciplined. We can take a cue as to how to do this from the recruiting process used by the football program of an academically elite Division 3 university with needs for self-disciplined candidates. Their process attempts to determine through hard and soft measurements what candidates have attempted and accomplished in their previous academic and athletic careers. However, it goes even deeper by looking at less obvious things like the load and difficulty of the courses they took and other activities they pursued, and their success.
We can use an analogous approach by looking for evidence and language that strongly suggest that the candidate practices the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People codified by Stephen Covey, particularly the following:
- Be proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Sharpen the Saw.
Once the person is recruited, we need to complete the job of building discipline, manifested in both thought and action, through our leadership and with our systems. This requires that we devote almost fanatical attention to modeling discipline, setting clear expectations, reviewing performance, assigning developmental jobs and rewarding disciplined behavior and contributions to a whole culture of discipline.
We can promote the application of the Hedgehog Concept personally and help lift their skills and passions to a whole new level. A culture of discipline with all key people on the Hedgehog Concept bandwagon has tremendous transformational power.
For more information on how to take your strategic planning to the next level please listen to our webinar: Why Isn’t My Strategic Planning Working?
© Copyright 2015 by Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI — Reprint permission granted with full attribution.
Tom Ambler is a Senior Consultant with Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc. He can be reached by email at ambler@cssp.com