Your CEO just announced that the company needs to hire people to drive and execute innovation. But it’s challenging enough to find the right talent for high-visibility jobs. So how do you ensure you match the right skills and mindset for your team? Tierney Remick, Chicago-based president of executive search giant
Q. What’s the biggest mistake that companies make when they look for an innovator?
A. They treat innovation as a function or competency. Just hiring a person alone isn't enough. Innovation has to be owned from the top down. Many organizations are driven by fear of failure, fear of not meeting short-term goals. If you’re going to pursue innovation, by definition you’re not going to see results in one, two or three quarters. You have to be willing to think a bit more long term, and that’s hard for a lot of CEOs.
Q. What do you ask executives to clarify that their company is really ready for innovation?
A. Do you need to absolutely transform your processes to be much more efficient? Do you need to create a safe place within the organization for new ideas that can be evolved, funded and researched? Some will win and some will fail. Do you have the patience to do that? Does the organization embrace people that think, express themselves and come to conclusions differently? How comfortable is the culture toward having very different mindsets coexisting? Do you have a plan? You have to have a reason for innovation and measurement stakes that tell you whether you’re moving down a path toward success, or it’s going to be a failure.
Q. Are there specific questions to test a candidate’s innovation abilities?
A. It sounds very simplistic, but it’s a combination of how they approach a lot of questions. How they’ve embraced and learned from their failures is one of the questions. Asking candidates to define where they think they’ve been innovative or where they’ve been able to create breakthrough thinking gives you a sense of how they think about innovation. What environments they have found to be most embracing of their way of thinking gives you insight into how they like hierarchical, creative and entrepreneurial or matrix situations. How do they inspire or sell their ideas and get organizations to believe in the possibilities? How they put forth a plan, and the metrics they use to measure success along the way, give you a perspective on the balance of analytical and creative thinking that someone brings.
One should look at a pattern of operating behavior. There is a shift towards more behavioral-based interviewing as opposed to chronological or experience-based interviewing. Behavioral-based interviewing helps understand the how and why of what they’re doing, not just the what.
Q. What’s your view on oddball interview questions?
A. When delivered appropriately they can give you insight on how open-minded candidates are to actually answer the questions. Are they afraid of the question? Do they come with an approach to answer the question that is important for your culture? I also think interviewers do that to shock the interviewee.
Q. Is search itself ripe for innovation?
A. The search industry has been forced to evolve. It’s no longer simply about finding people. The organizations that embrace talent as a strategic investment — that means acquisition, development and retention — are going to win going forward. That’s where we’ve evolved.
Q-and-As are edited for length and clarity.