Week 8 - Getting the Right People on the Bus and the Wrong People Off (by any means possible)

Last week discussed leaving a leadership legacy behind for others to appreciate and possibly emulate.  

This week we will look at Jim Collins’ (2005) book Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great.  Specifically, we will look at how a leader gets the right people on the bus, or, in other words, how a leader gets the right people on the team.

Good to Great and the Social Sectors
ISBN: 978-0977326402

Collins (2005) gives five issues that leaders must address to ensure that their organization achieves greatness above just being good.  We will discuss Collins’ (2005) Issue Three:  First Who – Getting the Right People on the Bus, within Social Sector Constraints (p. 13).

Greatness at Any Level.  The genius of Collins’ assertion is that leaders can apply his method not only to the whole organization but effective leaders can use his approach to sub-units and teams to achieve greatness at the lowest levels of an organization.  Collins (2005) contends that one can carry out pocket greatness at any level (p. 14).  A line patrol supervisor can create an atmosphere of greatness at the team (or squad) level.  A regional commander can create an atmosphere of greatness within their respective geographical area of responsibility.  Greatness does not need only the agency head to create a conducive atmosphere in order achieve excellence within the organization, but each leader can create the favorable environment from within their respective level.

~First Who Principle~

First Who Principle.  Collins (2005) explicitly asserts that a leader must, by any and all means possible, “get the right people on the [team], the wrong people off the [team], and the right people into the [key position]” (p. 14).  Within a law enforcement organization, policy and grievance rights may cause impediments to this concept that Collins (2005) believes is most essential to allow the greatness to begin to spring forth.  Not only should the leader have the right people on the team, but the leader must place the right people in critical positions to achieve an environment to allow greatness to well up and flow continuedly amongst those on the team.  

The Go-Getter: A Story that Tells You How to be One
ISBN: 978-0805065626

Early-Assessment Mechanisms.  Collins (2005) asserts that once the right people are on the team, along with the right people in the key positions, the leader should rigorously employ methods to assess those on the team and those in the key positions.  No matter what method one uses to interview and select members to place on the team or in key positions, no technique nor process is supreme or flawless.  Wrong people slip through the selection process to the seats on the bus.  Collins (2005) argues that the only way to know for sure that the member is the right person to be on the team is to work with the individual.  Leaders must evaluate the members to decide which ones are self-determined and self-motivated.  The team members must be, in Collins’ words, productively neurotic and compulsively driven to achieve greatness (2005, p. 15).  Collins (2005) describes the Bill Pecks of the world as the type of individuals that should make up one’s team (Kyne, 1921).  However, Collins (2005) is unwavering in his assertion that the process or method of evaluation must not lack rigor.

Peter B. Kyne

Rigorous Selections.  Public sector constraints limits organizations like law enforcement agencies as to types and sizes of compensation that the organizations can give team members.  Collins (2005) believes that organizations must focus on a discerning selection process when looking to get the right people on the team. 

One Day, All Children...
ISBN: 978-1586481797

Collins (2005) points to Wendy Kopp (2003), and the Teach for America campaign whereby Kopp reveals that when the selection process is more selective, the positions become more desirable.  Kopp (2003) also asserts that the right people that a leader looks to place on the team are the people who desire meaning in their lives (Collins, 2005).  These are the type of team members that “has the power to ignite passion and commitment” in others to allow the greatness to flow to others (Collins, 2005, p. 16).  Collins (2005) argues that public sector organizations, like law enforcement agencies, must have enough of the right people on the team that will commit to the overall mission and intended outcome to make the organization great.  By having the right people with the commitment and passion for attracting others that are right to get on the bus, the organization can compensate for the lack of benefits it can offer team members; however, Collins (2005) adamantly asserts that no amount of money nor gain can pay for not having the right people on the team and in the right positions.

References

Collins, J. (2005). Good to great and the social sectors: A monograph to accompany Good to Great. Boulder, CO: Jim Collins.

Kopp, W. (2003). One day, all children...: The unlikely triumph of Teach For America and what I learned along the way. Cambridge, MA: Public Affairs.

Kyne, P. B. (1921). The go-getter: A story that tells you how to be one. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation.