Avast
Thirteen of us sat around the table interviewing a candidate for Webmaster this afternoon. --Except for our clothes and generally academic level of fitness (that is to say, not terribly high) we might have been galley pirates trying to fill out the boat. (Beards were, after all, well-represented.) Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour, perhaps it was the letdown from yesterday's holiday that led me to think in these terms. (Perhaps it was a truly nasty story, "Under the Pitons," which I'd read on the train coming in. It's in Stone's Bear and His Daughter, which I bought remaindered seven years ago, which almost didn't make the move in July, and which is turning out to be very, very good indeed.)
Seth Godin wants to get rid of interviews. He may well have a point.
Time constraints and the number of participants kept us from going very deep--basically each interviewer got to ask a single question. This reminded me of a few things :
1) Social search is probably going to be terrible. Chris Sherman thinks so too. To sum up his post, when you get a bunch of people who aren't experts in the subject area, you're going to have a race to the bottom in terms of results.
2) It's long been known that groups tend to have a powerful urge to reach consensus. What's interesting though is that this result, familiar to anyone who's been on a committee, may actually be a "bad apples" phenomenon--the actions and words of certain individuals may have a disproportionate effect. I saw some of that today (and, um, I tried to be part of the solution). Marcus Buckingham would probably call these folks Harmonizers.
How do Harmonizers relate to the Long Tail? Do they build blockbusters by leveling taste? That might be too glib, I suspect. Discuss.
1 Comments:
There is certainly a place in the world for the harmonizer, but it in my opinion is certainly not at the head of any serious or successful organization. It is a role best religated to the right hand of the right hand man. Too close to the top and you have no one who can make a conclusive decision. To far away, and you may find yourself in a dictatorship. As with all else in life, balance is essential.
Group interviews as a rule unintentionally tend to bring out the school ground mentality of all involved. There will be those who shrink back and those who push forward. While it can be an effective way of seeing how the person being interviewed deals with the dynamics of a group, it's certainly not the only step that should be used in the interview process.
While I'm on my Auden kick, I'll share this quote. Though not directly applicable, it does touch lightly on the on the subject of the role of the Harmonizer and the long tail..and if nothing else gives on pause to think.
"What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish. This is bad for everyone; the majority lose all genuine taste of their own, and the minority become cultural snobs."
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