WANTED: Transformational Leader

Mission Brief

Psst!  I am on a mission on behalf of a client.Client: “Find us a leader to open our boutique hotel. Not just any leader. We want someone who can transform this wasteland prime location into this…”Pause for a moment and imagine an architect and interior designer collaboration resulting in a 3-D rendering of ultra-chic, jaw-dropping ‘beachy’ gorgeousness.Me: “Aha! So you need a Transformer.”

The Mission: Find a Transformational Leader

Before embarking the mission to find the Transformer; as with any search, you need to first create the target profile. The specification has to pinpoint the key skills, experiences and character traits.First stop Google search.But where to begin faced with an ocean of information with thousands of leadership references and lists of general attributes of an effective leader?I find some encouraging leads about Transformational Leadership in Kendra Cherry's super-straightforward article. It is a great start and I make some notes.But the context is not quite right. I’m on the hunt for an ‘opening twist’ to help my client achieve their goal. It remains an elusive enigma; a stubborn code resisting my efforts to crack it.To open the property, my client needs a Transformer - a follow-worthy leader who is adept at leading in extremis.  Undaunted; I press on. I realised I had to go deep into Transformer territory to find a leader with the right character to open the property. Time to ditch the formulaic approach and go off-piste!

Transformer Territory: Leadership in extremis

It’s hard to beat a property opening – particularly a luxury brand – to observe and experience leadership in extremis. The extreme circumstances of such an opening has much in common with a Start Up venture.A business opening is the spotlight which reveals character flaws which might not be so damaging if it were not for the leadership in extremis position. And when that spotlight of truth and revelation shines; hold on to your knickers…Drawn from the battle-field tales from opening veterans and examples of some iconic Transformers, here are a few of my top pick Leadership types and traits to build into the hiring specification and selection process.Some are hire-worthy and some are of the avoid-like-the plague variety.Without further ado and in no particular order of priority:-1. Megatron. You don’t want to wake up to the awful truth and discover that you have unwittingly hired the real-world female or male version of Megatron.  You know the type.“Megatron is leader of the Evil Decepticons… He is brutal, relentless, and the very definition of Destruction. Megatron has earned the respects of his fellow Decepticons simply because of his brute power and overall undeniable leadership. The most interesting part of most incarnations of Megatron is that he truly believes that he is the good guy and that alone makes him even more terrifying.”  via Comic Vine.The magnitude of the destruction which could hit your product and employer brands, the operation and team is humungous. The repair of employee and customer trust and, in some cases, the associated reparations can be a long dark epic journey to salvation.As the saying goes, fish rots from the head. Your first line of defence to avoid the stinky fall-out of bad leadership hiring is your recruitment and selection process.With strong on-brand recruitment marketing messages in the bag, bring home the bacon with an unapologetically rigorous hiring process that will repel potential Decepticons and lock in the right calibre of leadership candidate.If a Decepticon manages to slip through your recruitment process, remember you still have the probation period to take corrective action.2. Nerves of Steel and Flexible like Reid Bar: Openings are not for the faint-hearted and the lovers of colour-by-numbers leadership. Even with the most comprehensive opening project plan packed with contingencies, can be seriously thrown off track. Opening a hotel in the middle of the Caribbean’s hurricane season; well that’s just par for the course. The ability to adapt and adjust course on the fly is mandatory.3. Audacious visionary: “I HAVE A DREAM…” There are few that can discount the power of those 4 simple words in the right hands.The vision may not be theirs originally, but a leader who can take hold of a dream and galvanise a team to follow them on the journey to make it a reality is worth their weight in gold. My client needs such a leader.4. Entrepreneurial Flair Affair: They must LOVE leading openings and their track record for getting the business doors open must be outstanding. These mavericks don’t follow rules they make them – perfect for openings. But once the doors are open, they can become bored with the status quo and their dynamic leadership style loses its lustre.Hire counter-intuitively for this type of leader and get the benefits of these serial openers.  Enter into the employment relationship with a mind-set of a passionate love affair, intense and exciting; but with the knowledge that it is not sustainable. This is not a long term relationship. If you try to turn it into one, it could end in tears.Hire with an end firmly in sight – no strings attached.   Consider forming an employment relationship lasting from pre-opening to the opening. Build in an additional 1 month or so extension beyond the opening date for smooth hand over to the incoming operational leader.End the love affair with a heartfelt thank you and fond farewell as the opening leader heads off to their next opening or a well-deserved break.5. No Saint and often Quirky: High pressure tolerant with buckets of humour. One of my favourite opening tales has an opening leader who conducted his executive management meetings sitting on an over-sized exercise ball whilst counting out his next dose of homeopathic pills. His mind-shifting capability to move from preopening construction mode to opening guest-facing mode with the click of your fingers is a must-have in a transformational leader.Brilliant yet flawed, and utterly human. It is well documented that Sir Winston Churchill’s love of the finer things such as Pol Roger champagne and Cuban cigars, brought him to the brink of financial ruin many times. Despite (or perhaps as a result) of this character quirk, his historic legacy speaks for itself.6. The Super Model: Leading by example, they model the core values and get their hands dirty.  After months of torrential rain, the landscaping plan was in disarray and behind schedule. The sight of the Corporate Director of Operations, trousers rolled to the knees with mud up to the calves, working along-side the Landscaping team to get plants into the ground did more to bring home the company’s values on leadership and collaboration than any HR-led orientation/induction programme.In the end, “people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya AngelouIf all else fails...7. Hire Optimus Prime: Well maybe not exactly but it is not a bad place to start. “Optimus Prime is depicted as a brave, powerful, wise and compassionate leader who puts his talent to use improving the universe around him. Optimus is portrayed as having a strong sense of justice and righteousness and has dedicated himself to the protection of all life…” So savvy Recruiter, those are my top pick criteria for Leadership in extremis hiring.Select the ones which best suit your needs. Add your own and then build those criteria into your Transformational Leader selection process.I am off to fine tune my Transformer hiring specification to present to my client.So until we meet again next week down The HR Rabbit Hole…