…today’s secret…Hiring for the future.

Organizations are always looking for potential leaders who can move up the organizational ladder.

These people are usually identified through some early evidence of them having the right-stuff attributes.

The problem is they don’t have any experience in the future positions for which they are not yet qualified.

Therefore the current leadership finds them by sifting through lots of people in order to find those few who they think might have the desired end-state attributes.

Let’s think differently about this for a bit.

Instead of hiring just for the right-now attributes and hoping they climb the ladder, hire also by their ability to acquire the attributes for future situations.

In other words, the talent you’re seeking is also their ability to learn what needs to be learned from a future experience they don’t now have.

In your hiring process you would still look for the right-stuff right-now attributes, but add some learning-oriented measures such as…

…seeks opportunities to learn
…seeks and uses feedback
…asks the right questions
…looks at things from new perspectives
…learns from mistakes

This shouldn’t be difficult to add to your hiring process should it?

You might be surprised how this can develop some serious bench strength in your organization.