Putting together the right team...

In the course of my work life, I have been team member and team selector.  Obviously, I have the former role more often than the latter.  In this post, I wish to discuss being the selector. 

I was a manager previously and had the opportunity to recruit members to my team.  There was no shortage of resignations because of low team morale when I joined -- issues carried over from my predecessors' time.  Nevertheless, you inherit what you inherit and just get on with the job. 

At this point, I wish to quote (in not exact words) what Confucius said... "If a father cannot be a father, how can an Emperor be an Emperor?"  This quote, to me, is profound because it is so simple, yet makes so much sense. 

Prior to my appointment, I was told that my direct downline had been dilly dallying and not doing much work.  My predecessor also was more a manager than a clinician -- the appointed role had the responsibility of coordinating clinical services.  My direct downline received input from me around her team.  It was clear that she was not able to do her job and it was not long after that she resigned. 

*Interestingly, she got a higher position at another organisation doing much the same.  Yet, she had no idea about managing her team to achieve clinical outcomes.  I don't know who appointed her.  But this is another issue for organisations -- How did they select her?  What were their criteria for appointment?  Must they appoint just because they had put the job ad up?  Is it so that at least there is someone doing something?  Or is it a case of you don't appoint to the role, you lose the funds?  I don't know.  The thing is that people who have had certain kinds of job are recycled into the same industry.  Thus, it can be hard to weed out the ones who do not have the pre-requisites to actually do the job.  When a recruiter looks at the resume, they think they see someone interested in the industry with years of experience within the industry.  Yet, I see someone who has worn themselves out because of the lack of training and seem to job hop until they find their reporting upline oblivious to their under-resourced skill set. 

The long and short of it was that the assistant to my direct downline was actually the one holding everything together.  The assistant had the right quals but was not interested in leading.  However, after talking things through, we worked out that if she was going to do the job, she should get the recognition (the title) and the appropriate financial renumeration.  She applied for the job with my encouragement and got the job.  Was I right in appointing her?  Yes, I was!  I know that because I had no major issues with people who report to her.  Of course, there are other ways to measure the success of the appointment (e.g., less workcover incidents, sick leave, team morale, message getting through to the team, team feels that they are heard by me, lower reliance on agency staff, no one reporting to her seeks me out directly etc etc).