I find that most companies have access to the same toolsets in the marketplace and many of them have mostly identical technology ecosystems.  Why will one thrive while the other struggles? In a prior post, I said a digital transformation culture is needed to succeed for most organizations.  What if that culture exists, management is supportive, financial resources are available, and results are lacking?  If your staff doesn’t seem to be able to leverage new and transformational technologies, you may be stuck in the skills gap.

The “skills gap” has been a topic of interest in recent years. People lament the lack of talent in the marketplace and complain often about not being able to find the right “resources”.  Contributing factors may be the ever-increasing needs of businesses to transact business digitally, the pace of innovation, opportunities to learn at work, educational system failures, etc. are all blamed. Businesses can find themselves struggling to keep up or simply maintain what they have.

Organizations that have a skills gap issue seem to have plenty of existing staff but for whatever reason, they only know what they know.  Their people had acquired skills at one point in time but have stagnated.  They support the existing environment but cannot seem to make a mental leap to a new paradigm when given the opportunity.  In some cases, improvements in a technology they already know prove to be difficult to leverage.  Businesses are forced to seek out new employees that are hard to find and hire, or they utilize qualified, expensive consultants. I have seen organizations attempt to utilize simplified environments and still need to use consultants.

What is going on here?

There are two fundamental things you need in place for digital transformation…

1. Having a digital technology culture that is backed by management.
2. Hiring people that can thrive in a changing environment where digital technology is viewed as part of the strategic operation of the organization.

Let’s assume #1 is addressed.  You have a great work environment, benefits packages and willing to pay for talented people to be part of your organization. 

Despite many companies being in this fortunate situation, there are numerous examples of organizations not having the right people in the long term to leverage new technologies.  They are stuck in the “this is what I know, and I complete the tasks given” quagmire. You must make sure that new employees coming in the door can support and thrive in your digital transformation culture.

Fit or Fiasco

When you recruit, interview, and hire what is your objective?

Is it to find someone that knows the tools, platforms and is the right fit?

Or

Are you trying to find someone with creativity, abstract thinking, and communication and technical skills to transform and improve what is around them?  (In addition to having the skills and being a fit…)

Everyone seeks people that are the right fit and that is important.  However, you must be on guard that “good fit” doesn’t mean adding a “yes person” to your team.  Agreeable people entrench the status quo and tend not to value change. A skilled team that builds and supports your environment is critical to the functioning of your organization but having a team full of task-based, “yes people” will make you stagnate. 

The Defining Factor – Creative Intelligence

If the skills are there and it is a good fit, you still need to evaluate further. The critical attribute you need your people to possess is creative intelligence.  People with creative intelligence can deliver more than just a technical skillset and task completion. They deliver new and powerful possibilities that no one has thought of before.  This is critical for the digital transformation culture.

Most organizations judge prospective team members on their rote intelligence because it is easy to evaluate. It is easy to declare a good fit and easy to ask technical questions A, B, and C.  But you do not know if the person is a critical piece in digitally transforming your organization or they knew the differences between memcpy and wmemcpy and won’t rub anyone the wrong way.  

In my example, there was only a focus on what the person has memorized.  You need to focus on how people think, create, learn, handle change, communicate, recognize opportunities, and create something from nothing. Try to find the person who possesses creative intelligence and is an innovator.

Identifying the Creative vs Rote

Here are some approaches I suggest to obtain a deeper understanding of the person you are evaluating. There may be additional ways that are not mentioned here, but the important thing is to determine if you are getting a creative innovator or a task taker.

Long Form Technical Talks

Determining a person’s technical aptitude is a critical part of any interview process. You need to determine more about this person’s makeup rather than what they have memorized.  Evaluate if this person can take information from multiple disciplines within your organization, properly evaluate that information, and identify and promote opportunities for digital transformation.

You must expand your discussions with prospective team members. Find out what they know but avoid the technical fact question and answer trap.  Word gets out about these interviews and people will prep for it like it is an exam. A long form talk will uncover much more detail about the person, allow you to ask more relevant questions, and allow you to evaluate their verbal communication skills.

Points of Discussion

• Have the person to explain their participation in relevant teams and projects. 
• Make them elaborate on their team roles and responsibilities.
• Ask how they obtained work and determine if they were proactive.
• Discuss what technologies were involved and have them diagram it on a whiteboard if possible.
• Talk about what did they did to develop, maintain, support, operate the technologies involved.
  • Ask specific technical questions that are relevant to their experience.
• Determine if they were able to approach their team and managers with new ideas.  If not, then determine why.
• Ask if they are insulted or offended if one of their ideas gets rejected.
• Inquire if they are willing to reject someone else’s idea and back up their rejection with facts and reason.

Change and Acquisition of Knowledge

In my opinion, this is one of the most important things to evaluate.  What is new and shiny today will quickly diminish and be replaced at some point by something better and more powerful. You need to determine if the person takes responsibility for their career and skills or if they view the organization as the one responsible for their development.  People with the highest potential take it upon themselves to stay current. I have seen that creative intelligence types read books, blogs, watch internet training videos, experiment at home, etc. They are the ones that will stay relevant in the long term and add value to your organization.  So be sure to ask the person directly how they keep their skills and knowledge up to date.

Creative Abstract Thought

A critical skill for your digital transformation team is the ability to assess different parts of your organization and create something new where nothing prior had existed.  The impact of the ability to think in terms of “what if” cannot be understated. You will need to see if new people can think in the abstract and create new possibilities.

I recommend having people attempt to create solutions for difficult problems.  You are validating this person’s ability to think and create and there are not any correct answers for solutions you request. Some examples of solutions to ask for might be as follows…

• Have the person create a programming language and then solve some simple problems.
• Ask an impossible question such as, “How much water passes through the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge in one hour?” or “How much does Texas weigh?”.

There is no correct answer to these questions.  You can stop the exercise if you have enough information to make an assessment. At that point, you should have a good idea into that person’s ability to evaluate the problem, think of possible alternatives, and create a solution.

Other Interests Outside of Work

All prospective team members should be asked if they have any hobbies or interests outside of work.  Having other interests is an indicator that the person is open to new ideas and wants to learn new things.  It does not matter what their interests are, just that they have them. 

Communication Skills

During your time with this prospective employee, they had had ample opportunity to speak, diagram, and code.  You will have had enough time to evaluate their communications capabilities. A digital transformation culture requires your team members to communicate effectively with all parts of the organization.