Stars—they’re in your MAP
by Miki SaxonI’m a mystery reader, especially old mysteries, and one of my favorites is the Miss Silver series by Patricia Wentworth. I mention it because the opening lines in one are very apropos to hiring.
They go, “[she] became involved in a story which had begun a long time before, and whose end may be quite unknown, since what happened yesterday must needs affect today and set out a pattern for tomorrow. It is not, of course, necessary to follow the pattern, but it is sometimes easier, and ease is always tempting.“
That’s an excellent summation of your relationship with a candidate.
You hire based on past performance, which doesn’t a guarantee the future; when that performance doesn’t work out it is easier to blame the candidate than to look for shortfalls in your own management. And, as Wentworth said, “ease is always tempting.”
Stars are far more often made than born, and it is you, their manager, who makes them.
Bad/poor management can dim the brightest star, whereas great management can make even an asteroid shine.
It is your MAP that defines how you manage and, for most workers, no matter their level, how they are managed defines their productivity, creativity and star power.
Your MAP, your control, your decision.
Your comments-priceless
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February 6th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
[...] received a very irate phone call after yesterday’s post, in which I said that managers make their own stars and if that wasn’t happening then they [...]