Take the 24 Hour Plane Test
Taken from “Sir Clive Woodwards’ Top 12 Leadership Lessons”, the 24 Hour Plane Test is one of the celebrated tests that Sir Clive applies to people whom he wishes to employ. The general theory behind it is that you should only employ people that you could sit next to on a 24 Hour Plane journey. Here it is in full:
The 24 Hour Plane Journey Test
“To maintain your level of enjoyment, you need the right people around you. When you recruit, don’t just look at the CV. Would you want that person with you day in, day out, for years?
Trusting someone who spent the Lions Tour surrounded by people like Alistair Campbell could be stretching it, but on the whole we believe the theory is sound and would like to elaborate. Accordingly we have spent some time exploring the test in greater detail and in the context of recruitment from a management perspective.
1. To maintain your level of enjoyment, you need the right people around you.
The key word here is “enjoyment”. As demonstrated by David Cameron in his recent speech, the current vogue is a “work/life balance” where the pendulum is swinging towards “quality of life”. Given that most of us spend most of our time employed this must surely involve enjoying ourselves at work. This is next to impossible if, as a manager, you work with people you do not like. Given that most of us work in environments that involve other people it is therefore important to get the “right” people into your team. No matter how good someone is at interview, if they are not someone you can abide, then they shouldn’t be employed. It doesn’t matter if they might deliver the greatest results ever - you still need to like each other or it will never last. Don’t let it get to the stage where you find yourself expensively sacking them years down the line.
This is what Henry Ford II found himself doing to the man who single handily turned Ford’s fortunes around in the seventies, Lee Iacocca. When asked why he had sacked the man who delivered a $2m profit, Ford famously answered “I just didn’t like him”.This is often a major factor in what interim managers we send to what company: “would “X” like them”?. Also known as “The Fit”
2. When you recruit, don’t just look at the CV
Dissecting this further, we learn that it is important to not rely on any one measure in the recruitment process.Using one method in isolation be it interview, CV or Psychometrics will not work. This is borne out by a recent “Personnel Today” article (30 May 2006) which, amongst other findings raised “serious doubts about whether any selection processes actually work”. The article went on to say that “Whether conducted by HR or the line manager, recruitment is a precarious business, and hiring a senior-level employee remains a “leap of faith”.Recruitment is not an exact science, you can, however, try to make it as scientific as possible. After we have interviewed and referenced our Interim Managers, the single most important thing that our company looks for is a recommendation from a reliable, dependable, independent, source. It is borne out by having connections in the industry that span decades and usually takes the form of an informal discussion along the lines of “you worked with x; what are they really like”.
This method has stood us in good stead and we would recommend that you use it amongst your chosen methods, be they psychometrics, interviews, assessment centres etc.Trust your first impressions. In his ground-breaking book “Blink – the power of thinking without thinking” Malcolm Gladwell says “we need to stop pretending that we make rational decisions when we hire someone. It’s about the power of first impression, for good or bad”.Finally – why not take potential applicants out with your team for a meal or some sort of activity. Brave is the person who suggests a game of croquet – a game universally acknowledged to bring out the worst in people.
3. Would you want that person with you, day in, day out, for years?
Working relationships are like marriages. Get them right and it’s great. Get them wrong and you are looking at lengthy, expensive and messy proceedings.
Further reading:
Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking – Malcolm Gladwell
Winning – Sir Clive Woodward
Shackleton’s Way – Margaret Morrell et al
Personnel Today – Fortnightly
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