Recently Lloyd Graff interviewed Chris Kaiser, president of Big Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. They discussed Big Kaiser’s hiring philosophy and also talked about the features of two of the company’s products: the Chip-fan and the Fullcut Mill.
Question: Would you be willing to hire an employee with impeccable talent but zero people skills?
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Llyod was exactly right when he said that everyone in a company sells, right from the President to the floor sweeper. When anyone from the outside has interaction with a company it has to be a positive experience, and again no matter what type of interaction it is. If the interaction with the receptionist, shipper, or accountant is always pleasant the customer will want to come back.
The point I want to make is that the person with no people skills will not only have a hard time with a potential customer, which is obviously bad, but will also have a hard time dealing with his/her coworkers. And if that person doesn’t get along with the people that he/she works with then the group as a whole will not work effeciently as it should.
A group of people in a company with the right attitude will not only be more successfull but will be able to deal with right adversity as it arises, which is inevitable.
It depends upon how the shop is structured, and every shop I worked in was different. I would be looking for, and interviewing for, a Machinist and not a Social Worker. What that person can do for me on the machine is what counts.
I’ve worked in shops alone, almost in a “cell”, where people-skills are not required except for direction toward a task from a Supervisor. In other shops, you had to mingle with the “good ol’ boys”, and in cases like this, a marginal skill level was acceptable. A marginal skill level is not what I’m looking for.
Again, every shop is different, and often Managers may be poor at seeing exactly what his organization needs to be at maximum efficiency. Often, Managers cannot be both excellent “people managers” and “technical managers”, but the Manager who excels at both has the best of both worlds and is doing the best both for his staff and his organization.