Workshops

Better Leadership Hiring

Two practical, interactive workshops to help agency principals and senior leaders make better leadership hires. Work through a real need in your agency with experienced guidance and insights from other leaders. Each workshop stands on its own, or they can be taken together.

Bring these workshops to your group

Workshop 1: Foundations

When an agency needs more leadership, it’s tempting to go straight to a role. But there are key questions worth working through before you commit and begin a search.

the common leap

“We need a COO.”

“Let’s start the search.”

  1. What’s the real need?
  2. How important is it?
  3. What would it take?
  4. Is hiring the best way?

What we’ll work through

  • Understanding the need Getting clear on the actual problem or opportunity, its priority, and what it would take to address it. The answer might not be a new hire.
  • Defining the role around results If a new leader makes sense, what they’d need to accomplish, how you’d know it’s working, and how they’d get there.
  • Weighing the investment Assessing the potential value of the role, what it would cost, and whether your agency is in a good position to enable success now.
Bring something real to work on
Much of the session is spent on your own agency: a leadership need you’re facing, what it would take to address it, and what a new leadership role might look like. With a small cohort, there’s room for personal guidance and comparing notes with other leaders.

You’ll leave with a clearer view of the need, a first draft of the role’s purpose and intended results, and models and questions to help you develop it further.

90 minutes · Up to 6 agencies · Up to 2 people per agency · Short intake questionnaire
For agency principals and senior leaders thinking about a leadership hire, a promotion, or a future need. No pre-defined role needed to attend.

Workshop 2: Practices

Hiring a senior leader is a high-stakes decision, but one most agency principals don’t make very often. That makes it hard to develop an effective approach, especially when you’re busy running your firm.

First impressions Unverified claims Your judgment

Resting on impressions

Clear criteria Relevant evidence Tested assumptions Your judgment

Resting on evidence

Most principals know the basic steps. The harder part is doing each one well. And the details matter. Nothing guarantees a great hire, but a sound approach, carefully executed, can substantially reduce the risks and set a new leader up for success.

What we’ll work through

  • Candidate criteria Deciding what matters most, in a scorecard you’ll actually use.
  • Finding candidates Reaching strong leaders, including the ones who aren’t looking.
  • Evaluating and deciding Gathering rich evidence around the characteristics that matter.
  • Planning and preparing What it will take to run the search well, and how to set up the firm and new leader for success.
Bring a role you’re working on
It doesn’t need definition yet. You’ll have a chance to start work on your candidate scorecard, sourcing and evaluation approach. With a small cohort, there’s room for personal guidance and comparing notes with other leaders.

You’ll leave with the start of a recruiting plan for your role, plus templates and guidance to help you continue developing it.

120 minutes · Up to 6 agencies · Up to 2 people per agency · Brief preparation beforehand
For principals and senior leaders preparing for a leadership hire, whether the first or twenty-first.

Interested in a workshop?

Whether you’d like to participate, bring a workshop to your agency, or organize one for your association or community, we'd be glad to talk.

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