Sorry, but I can't resist the parallel between hiring the Indian Cricket Coach and the challenge of hiring a CXO in new age India. Lets look at the coach hiring experience in perspective:
- The full time coach position has been open since March 2007. It has taken 8 months for the country to find a suitable coach. It yet remains to be seen if Kirsten will accept the offer. Even if he does accept, he can at best join in a months time. This makes the recruitment cycle 9 months - should he join.
- During the past 8 months, the BCCI has met with 3 candidates: Dav Whatmore, Graham Ford and John Emburey. Lesson: Increase your pipeline of serious candidates so that the each person is assessed in relation to the other rather than in isolation.
- Of the 3 candidates, they met with Dav Whatmore in April, soon after the World Cup debacle, followed by John Emburey and Graham Ford in June.
- Dav Whatmore was the only serious candidate - being considered in April, and when things fell through, the BCCI did not have a pipeline of candidates to meet, the search had to be resumed afresh. Hence the search lost steam for a bit.
- By the month of June, the BCCI had become desperate for a coach and shortlisted John Emburey and Graham Ford - without sufficient due diligence. They offered Graham Ford the job - almost overnight and paid the price for it. He refused for family reasons, meaning his motives for meeting them were not clear and he was the wrong candidate. John Emburey was shortlisted overnight without sufficient information, just to give a semblance of objectivity to the process. Lesson: Get real, don't think the world is at your feet.
- This humbling experience, triggered a more practical approach:A bowling coach - Venkatesh Prasad, Fielding Coach - Robin Singh and an Interim Team Manager - LS Rajput. Working well in fact.
The Indian coach experience is similar to what a whole lot of corporates experience:
- Initally reject the first couple of candidates : ' We'd like to meet a few more and then decide'. Not really sure whats available.
- As time goes by they get desperate: Hire and roll out the offer overnight to the 3rd or 4th candidate. Candidate is taken aback that it happened so quick. Feels uncomfortable and backs out. Time lost, back to square one.
- Finally, hire an Interim CXO and build the internal leadership team to get upto speed.
The Moral of the experience, be it a coach or a CXO - first get an interim team, or key individual in place so that the 'show goes on'. Once the immediate vacuum is addressed, the focus can be on a structured and professional selection process to find a permanent solution. This will address the short term stability needs while ensuring that the long term is not compromised due to desperation.
