Closer Than You Think: Beware of the Lure of the Outside Hire

  Diversity   Organizational Culture   PM Network  

Question: My company tends to go outside to hire managers for big projects, and it has me wondering: Why do companies do this? Why should I have to leave to get ahead? Otherwise, I really like this company.

Answer: In my previous column (“The Human Touch,” March), I addressed the travails of a project team suffering at the hands of a solely task-oriented leader. He had taken steps that minimized team member interaction, leaving his people feeling isolated and vulnerable. It seemed an unfortunate but hardly unique case, and I never intended to return to it.

Until about a month ago, that is.

That’s when the whole project exploded amid spectacular fireworks and acrimony, leaving the team leaderless and the leader jobless.

The reasons for this catastrophe are many and varied, but the root cause was put in place two years ago, when the project manager was hired from outside the organization. At the time, recruiting him seemed like a coup. Yet everyone realizes now that despite a stellar résumé and great interviewing skills, he was the wrong man for the job, and the company never really knew him all that well.

Something shiny and new

Organizations often have an abiding belief in the benefits of hiring from outside. I’ve heard all sorts of catchy phrases to describe the advantages of external candidates: greater …

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