Innovation - Lesson #3

[Stacey Fraser]

Innovation – Lesson #3


- What is one way trait or behavior that they practice that encourages innovation in their team?

I selected my brother as a leader that I have followed for years. He is in the tech/software field on the sales side of things. He has been with 4 or 5 companies over the course of his 25-year career building sales teams. I have always been amazed listening to stories and checking in with him frequently about how he leads people and how he manages to bridge the gap between the tech and the sales aspect of things. The greatest trait I would say he poses that encourages his teams to innovate is his trust and belief in their abilities and their vision.

When he builds his teams, he selects people for various skills they can “bring to the table”. He builds a team with the varied skills and creates a sense of camaraderie amongst his team with all knowing the separate and valuable skills each were hired for. He builds situations and teams in which trust and dedication is a two-way street. His belief in his team, his dedication to his team, and his trust all create an atmosphere in which innovation is fostered, encouraged, and completely supported.

- What is one thing that you took away from their work that you are striving to implement today in your work?

The main thing I take away from my brother’s success is his trust and belief in his team. He takes the time to build a team that he knows is going to succeed. To some extent, barring critical staff shortages or possible policy violations, when hiring new people, I like to be able to take the time and find the people that will work within my teams the best. I look for a person that has the dedication to the mission, the ability to do the job, and the person that holds trust and respect in the highest regard, as I do.

[jesseperez]

Great insight Stacey!

As a leader, and with limited time to make hiring decisions, how do you make sure you find the people that will work well within your team? How do you sift through the noise to secure people with both the needed and varied skill sets (like your brother), that will help your team innovate and succeed?

How do we balance the building of the BEST team vs just needing to make a hire due to being short staffed?

[Stacey Fraser]

In a perfect world, I would simply take my time, interview lots of people and have the opportunity to make an informed hiring decision. In reality, however, when faced with critical staff shortages and the need to hire with haste, I rely on gut instinct a lot. I use the same set of interview questions with everyone and many of the questions are really used to weed people out. In my programs, it is a true balancing act between paper and passion - we have TONS of paperwork and a person has to be able to master that aspect with teaching and coaching. The passion piece, however, can't be taught, it is either there or it is not. I tend to focus on the passion and dedication aspect during the interviews, as that is the part that is critical and not obvious on a resume.

I like to think that I have been somewhat successful over the last 10 years with picking some really great folks, many that are still with me today. But admittedly, I have had some epic fails!!

[Stacey Fraser]

In a perfect world, I would simply take my time, interview lots of people and have the opportunity to make an informed hiring decision. In reality, however, when faced with critical staff shortages and the need to hire with haste, I rely on gut instinct a lot. I use the same set of interview questions with everyone and many of the questions are really used to weed people out. In my programs, it is a true balancing act between paper and passion - we have TONS of paperwork and a person has to be able to master that aspect with teaching and coaching. The passion piece, however, can't be taught, it is either there or it is not. I tend to focus on the passion and dedication aspect during the interviews, as that is the part that is critical and not obvious on a resume.

I like to think that I have been somewhat successful over the last 10 years with picking some really great folks, many that are still with me today. But admittedly, I have had some epic fails!!

[jennfriesen]

Hi, Stacey! I thought Jesse's questions on your post were really great. In your response, you talked about relying on your gut and that has proved to be successful but you did mention some "epic fails," too. I am curious what you learned from those that you have applied to your hiring decisions moving forward and, with those lessons, do you feel you have built a more innovative team?

[Stacey Fraser]

Interestingly enough, some of my epic fails were with hiring people that looked really super great on paper - they had similar experiences and longevity in previous positions. I think, looking back, I let the excitement of a prospective hire with experience cloud my usual interview process. Our job is very complex and tedious, we have huge amounts of paperwork, and we don't pay squat, so someone wanting to be hired with awesome qualifications and accepting of our pay clouded the usual emphasis I place on exploring the dedication to the mission and the passion aspect. I think that I mistakenly (obviously!) thought that since they had done the work somewhere else for an extended length of time then they must poses the passion and dedication piece as well. This was the obvious flaw in my thinking and looking back, I see this as being a common theme among some of my most epic fails. I spent more time focusing on the part of the job that can be taught and not enough time on the part of the job that can't be taught.

In terms of moving forward, with some recent staffing changes and lessons learned, I do feel I am getting back on track with rebuilding and creating a more innovative team.