Headhunter

It's what many companies need but I bet your company hasn't got one – in fact I've never heard of a company that has one on their payroll, says Geoffrey King.

For years companies have been searching for people capable of "making the big difference." Different names have been concocted as the years roll by. We have had companies looking for "rainmakers, entrepreneurs, champions" and so on, but none have really made much difference if you look at things dispassionately.

Then there are those companies that insist on only recruiting people from the "big beast" universities, but only those with First- or good Second-class degrees. They don't seem to actually outperform others who seem to take…well, just about anyone.

I know all about this having been a Headhunter for many, many years. Now, however, I just concentrate on helping companies sort out their teams because they've made the wrong decisions on many key hires, in spite of all the advice they’ve had. It’s hardly surprising how quickly this creates dysfunctional or underachieving teams.

I started to think about all of this recently as I'm in the process of setting up a new business in an area that is frankly outside my expertise. The project does not involve any advances in technology, as it's a "whizzo" idea that uses existing things, but puts them into a new context.

I thought for some time about how to move things forward and the biggest challenge was not to fall into the mantraps I have encountered in my previous life. I decided to assemble a team of people who didn't much care what they were called but would be fired by the idea I had, so in effect I was inviting them to join a "crusade".

My first step was to contact someone I have known for a long time who had really relevant experience and I knew she was a "good egg” – as we had worked indirectly together for many moons. She then introduced me to someone else with specific skills, but I will come back to this person. We added a marketing expert to join the core team.

Working together we have been fleshing out the idea, as that is where we are at in the business cycle. We are starting to learn about our individual strengths and we are starting to bond very well.

The second person to join our "crusade" was invited to join to help us raise the "dosh" and then assume a Non Executive Director’s' role. However, she quickly demonstrated some really unusual skills. She has the ability to drill down to the core of an issue and make you really think about whether to proceed with something or move it, shake it, turn it all about to get something that will work first time with a much higher probability of success.

Then the penny dropped. This person has a skill that every company needs! They probably only need one, as more would be an indulgence. It is a person who assumes the role of the Devil's Advocate.

Now a DA's role is to argue against a proposition to test it and/or provoke discussion. If this is done with absolute rigour, there is no hiding and you will come out stronger and with a better chance of success. But beware of the Sophist who just uses clever but fallacious arguments; they have no use in a company.

Devil's Advocates should not, however, be full time members of a company as they then tend to get sucked into the everyday things that are within the competence of most managers. They should, ideally, be non-executives who work with, for example, a CEO who has recently moved from a lab into business, knowing a lot about one domain but little about the other. A Devil's Advocate can help a CEO achieve key milestones by promoting baggage-free advice on the moves to be made.

In my experience, most "academic" CEOs are operating outside their comfort zone so they tend to take poor decisions on key issues such as hiring and using key personnel. They can also be surprisingly erratic in their decision- making, particularly on how to deal with non-execs and financial backers.

However, it's not just the start-up community that can benefit from using a Devil's Advocate; even global organisations need their input from time to time. For example, big companies usually enjoy a dominant position in a particular area, but drat it – a smart arse new kid on the block invents something that quickly starts to eat into margins.

Responding to these types of threat often requires a new mind set. It also usually means doing things outside the competences you have in-house. And this is where a Devil's Advocate can play a potent role – challenging thought processes so that you respond in a considered manner and don't just fly by the seat of your pants.

Furthermore, the larger you get the quicker you can lose your creative edge and a Devil's Advocate can help you re create the buzz you may have lost.

Using the right Devil's Advocate can be a very rewarding process. However, it is damn difficult to find such people. That's why I'm giving out no names and no pack drill in this piece!

But I will keep you all posted on how we get along as I know you won't tell anyone else!