Matcing the right hire to the right job: a critical managerial skill

No one can guarantee the performance of a manager or executive appointed to a new position.
The reports and surveys we are constantly bombarded suggest we can safely say most executives make poor promotion and staffing decisions.

Peter F. Drucker repeatedly said:

“In no other area of management would we put up with such miserable performance (as we do in people decisions)...indeed, we need not and should not...Managers making people decisions will never be perfect...But they should come pretty close to batting 1,000, especially because in no other area of management do we know so much..."

I completely agree with the following points taken from Human Resources. Read the full article here.

1) Think through the assignment. Failure to think through the assignment, Drucker observed, was the number-one reason for staffing failures. Put differently, executives making staffing decisions must “match strengths to opportunity.” many times when thinking through the assignment, the necessity for reorganizing the existing organization becomes apparent. The nature of the assignment requires multiple knowledges and a variety of skills impossible to find in one person.

2) Make sure the appointee understands the job.“It is not intuitively obvious to most people that a new and different job requires new and different behavior,” Drucker said. “Most people continue to do what they've done before.”

3) Match The Right New Hire For the Right Job. A successful bus driver, in all likelihood, cannot run the bus company.

Questions to ask:
"What is the task?” “What is the experience and knowledge base required to carry out the task?" "Does the appointee understand the job?"

Creating new opportunities for people involves helping them learn and develop. That's something Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC specializes in - but that is a topic for another day.