Interviewing Patience Right Person Force Multiplier with Jeff Leitman

It’s human nature to get away from pain as quickly as possible. 

As painful as it is to have an open role, it is even more painful to fill that role with a person who brings more pain. And that pain is most often delivered in the form of the Wrong Person in the Right Seat. 

Today we are going to discuss what this means and how to have the patience to work through finding the right person for the right seat. 

Guest Bio: 

Jeff Leitman is the Founder and CEO of Rocksteady Corp. Rocksteady specializes in the production of the Rocksteady Stadium speaker system, renowned for its high fidelity and connectivity, and is distributed across North America. Family, team members, and creating a positive and supportive work environment are the foundations of the organization.

As a hands-on CEO, Jeff prioritizes the development and empowerment of his team, partners, and vendors, fostering sustainable long-term relationships. 

Problem:  

• Right person = Aligns with company values, buys into the mission (value)
• Right Seat = Skills & capacity to do the work
• 70% of successful hiring is Alignment …. 30% is skills
• The focus is on the skills and stopping the pain quickly. 
• 100% focus on skills and hope it works out

Finding the patience to hire the strongest person requires discipline. Especially when there is a dire need to remove the work from your plate. 

Challenge today?

• In a startup environment, how to define roles to fill first, and how to ensure that role is defined properly and filled with the right person.
• Roles that need to be done but I can’t support or prioritize or don’t enjoy doing - finding people who enjoy their roles, are capable of filling the role, and who fit within the company culture.  
• Marketing, Sales, Accounting… for me, this was part of the A-team I needed.  Creative, fulfillment, and supply chain 
• I love this and thus don’t need a senior person as quickly.
• Or I need help to do it better, and I can be a positive partner and influence in driving a good result.
• Remain engaged in the role, even if you hate it.  Example:  I hated marketing, and hired people to do it for me.  It wasn’t until I learned to embrace it that it became effective.

Why is this important to the company?

Adding the right person is a force multiplier, and allows the company to grow at an accelerated pace.  Hiring the wrong person is the exact opposite, so be diligent.

Rick’s Nuggets:

• Skills-based hiring is transactional
  • Low perceived value
  • Lower engagement
  • Biggest offer wins
• Narrow focus- “Just fill this role quickly” 
  • Missing culture/value alignment 
  • Costs the company 3-7X the cash spent
    • Opportunity cost loss
    • Productivity
    • Disengagement 

How do we solve the problem? 

1. Define the position in detail, and be sure the candidate hits all the “has-to-have” criteria.
2. Don’t be lazy, keep going.  Interview more people, check references, think of more questions.  Be certain.
3. Don’t overplay your emotional position in an interview.  Don’t fall in love with them (and see what you want to see), keep them talking.  You lose power when selling your company too hard and too soon.
4. Work ethic is as important as knowledge or skills.
5. Expose the elephant in the room. 
6. Check references, and ask the right questions - are they biased?  Were they good managers?  What was the result and reason for the separation?
7. What is their