{"id":29756,"date":"2009-09-23T12:08:26","date_gmt":"2009-09-23T11:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/?p=29756"},"modified":"2009-09-16T12:09:35","modified_gmt":"2009-09-16T11:09:35","slug":"about-transformability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/about-transformability\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking from Experience! Now, About Transformability…"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Hiring for Fast-growing Departments or Companies<\/a> (an interesting article on ere.net), consultants Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest contend the two key issues for successful hiring in rapid-growth conditions are alignment and transformability.\u00a0 In their words:<\/p>\n

Alignment addresses the passion and skills the person brings to the organization, and their fit within the organization. Transformability is hiring the person not for the job as it exists today, but as it will exist tomorrow. Addressing the alignment issue without considering the transformability issue will likely result in hiring the wrong person.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll guess that the concept of assessing alignment is already familiar.\u00a0 More than just matching the skills to the job\u2014it\u2019s finding someone who\u2019s a good fit for the culture and has an enthusiasm for the goals and challenges of the position.<\/p>\n

Not that it\u2019s always easy to achieve alignment in hiring (or to maintain it across the organization), but the concept is familiar HR terrain.\u00a0 Transformability, on the other hand, may be terra incognita.\u00a0 In evaluating this quality, you are basically asking \u201cCan this candidate evolve with the job?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubica and LaForest make the point that in hiring for a fast-growing entity, recruiters should be \u201clooking for candidates who fit the future, not just the current, job requirements.\u201d\u00a0 But I would go a step further:<\/p>\n

Today, some companies may be fast-growing<\/em>, but many are fast-shrinking<\/em>.\u00a0 And most are engaged in some kind of change.\u00a0 With the entire ground of business undergoing shifts, from small tremors to major quakes, transformability may be a vital key for hiring in the majority of organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

My own experience connects up here because I\u2019ve worked as a contractor\/freelancer\/consultant for most of my career.\u00a0 Flexibility and tolerance for ambiguity (!) are qualities I\u2019ve cultivated, and they have always been viewed as an advantage by the organizations I\u2019ve worked for.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve noticed that those same organizations, when hiring full-time employees, look for a tight fit with the specific job requirements\u2014and often end up with a workforce that doesn\u2019t respond to change very well.<\/p>\n

In transformational projects, change management is always a huge challenge.\u00a0 Not just on the practical level, but on the cultural level.\u00a0 So maybe, since the times they are a-changin\u2019 faster and faster, transformability (\u201cthe ability to be transformed\u201d) ought to be in the forefront of consideration for all hiring at all companies.<\/p>\n

But.\u00a0 Based on what I\u2019m seeing in the market right now, the trend may actually be in the opposite direction.\u00a0 With budgets tight, only the most necessary positions are being filled, and there\u2019s a view that every hire has to be a slam dunk.\u00a0 That means extra emphasis on \u201cfit,\u201d and less consideration for the kinds of strategic qualities that could seem like a luxury.<\/p>\n

Thought experiment:\u00a0 What if every job had two descriptions?\u00a0 A \u201cnow\u201d version, and a \u201cmaybe\u201d version.\u00a0 Now<\/em> the job is selling widgets, but maybe<\/em> it will soon be marketing the art of widgetry.\u00a0 The best candidate might be the one who can imagine making that transition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Hiring for Fast-growing Departments or Companies (an interesting article on ere.net), consultants Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest contend the two key issues for successful hiring in rapid-growth conditions are alignment and transformability.\u00a0 In their words: Alignment addresses the passion and skills the person brings to the organization, and their fit within the organization. Transformability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,25],"tags":[5910,1285,5909],"class_list":{"0":"post-29756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-best-practices","7":"category-careers","8":"tag-alignment","9":"tag-recruiting","10":"tag-transformability","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nSpeaking from Experience! 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