Human Capital Planning: Getting clarity on the “who” you are looking for…

The human capital plan of any Family Enterprise should build consensus around specifically defining  each position in the organization’s structure. This definition must include two essential components: position specification and ideal candidate profile/culture fit.

Position specification will include scope, reporting structure, responsibilities/accountabilities, performance expectations and metrics to measure success. Once the position specifications have been clearly defined, the family can determine the skill, knowledge, experience and competency requirements as well as the education, certifications/designations required for each role.

Clarity around the ideal candidate profile and culture fit requirements are critical for success. Defining the personal characteristics and attributes, values, behavioral characteristics, leadership, decision making and interpersonal style, and other motivators needed to ensure good alignment and “culture fit” with the family are an essential part of this process.

In our experience, finding a candidate with the requisite skill, experience and qualifications for a position is the only the “first cut” on a search – the majority of the search is culture fit. If the culture fit is not on target, there is a high risk of an unsuccessful outcome. The wrong hire can cost much more than money; it also wastes time, can impede the family from accomplishing their mission and makes it very difficult to go back to the market in search of a new leader.  Most families are seeking a leader who will stay with them for 10-15 years, so it is important to approach the position definition and ideal candidate profile with this time frame in mind.

The Assessment Process: Figuring out the “how” of benchmarking…

Once the family has completed the human capital planning process, they have the information needed to develop a comprehensive search and assessment process that will be used to identify and select candidates. Each family is unique, so the criteria will be unique to each family.

The first step is to define selection criteria consistent with the position description, ideal candidate profile and culture fit requirements. The criteria will also enable candidates to be consistently assessed both in an absolute sense against the requirements as well as in a relative sense, benchmarked to one another.

For consistency and to identify the best candidate, it is important to use the same criteria and process to evaluate all candidates – this includes internal and external candidates as well as family and non-family candidates.

There is no one industry standard for assessment criteria, but there are numerous tools available, and they are often used in combinations. The following represents a list of the tools we consider to be most effective:

 Structured interview:  Structured interviews involve asking each candidate the same questions in order to compare responses afterward and assess them consistently.

Evaluation grids or matrices that indicate the specific criteria to be assessed using a rating scale are an effective way to consistently assess and rank candidates.

In instances where the family wants to get a deeper understanding of how a candidate approaches an analysis or problem-solving situation and/or a client advisory interface, or are torn between finalist candidates, case studies or presentations can be helpful.

Behavioral Interview: A behavioral interview is a technique that requires candidates to be introspective and asks them about past behaviors in order to predict future behaviors; candidates are also asked to provide specific experiences and stories to clarify and explain their behaviors and motivations.

There are numerous behavioral assessment tools available, and they are often combined.  These tools are not intended to be a short cut or a “silver bullet.” No assessment tool is a substitute for comprehensive interviews in which you get to know the person, their values and their experiences in depth to assess fit.

Open ended questions: Determining in advance what you want to learn from a candidate and then preparing and asking open ended questions is important in all assessment interviews. The interviewer can then ask follow-up questions to clarify the meaning or intent of the candidate’s responses. Open ended questions are important. They encourage a candidate to expound on their point of view which opens the conversation for a richer dialogue and more effective assessment.

Proper assessment is critical to making the right long term hire decision. Families who do not have an effective assessment process have a high risk of failure. In other words, if you do not know what you are looking for or have specific criteria and a consistent process to screen and assess whether you have found it, you might get lucky, but you cannot succeed on a systematic basis. You need a process that can produce a reliable, consistent and successful outcome.

Accessing the Universe of Potential Candidates: Understanding the “where” to begin your search…

In cases where a leadership role is not filled via internal succession, the family will conduct an external search. Whether the family decides to manage the search process themselves or engage an outside professional search consultant to conduct the search, it is extremely important to have a well-defined, structured process to ensure a successful outcome. The search process timeline, milestones and deliverables must be established. The individuals involved in the process and their accountabilities and responsibilities should also be clearly laid out.

Development of a strategic Human Capital Plan, managing the search, assessment and selection process, and having access to the potential (and often proprietary) universe of candidates are some of the benefits families enjoy when working with professional search consultants who have a proven track record of finding “needles in haystacks” that suit the criteria the family is seeking.

When conducting a search for a leader for their Family Office or Enterprise, the family’s goal is to “get it right the first time”. The approach outlined in this article is a proven process to enable families to sustainably and successfully hire the best candidate on a consistent basis.

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