Many times I have been left amazed as to how newly hired business executive want to bring in their “own people” from their previous employer. I ask, what happened to using the expertise and knowledge of the existing employees? This practice is so prevalent in Nigeria and comes to me as a sign of a poor manager.

Just a few weeks ago I learnt of a newly hired MD who was brought into a company to lead a new product development initiative. As he met with people he would be working with he made it a point to say that he wanted to bring in some people he had worked with at his previous company to replace them on the team. I see this as a subtle way of saying “I don’t have time to teach you what I know and I don’t want to learn from you so better start looking for somewhere else!”

Not only do good managers bring their expertise with them but they also are very aware that people who are already there may have a lot of knowledge that he or she is going to need to be successful. For example, the knowledge of how the corporate system works and who the key influencers are that can make or break a new idea.

On the other hand bad managers want to duplicate their previous work environments. They believe that they can just bring with them all their colleagues and the same results will be guaranteed. Sorry but that is not always the case.

Are there some organizations that could benefit from employees from other companies? Sure but to just tell everyone that you want to bring your old friends from your previous company in to take their jobs is NOT a way to install loyalty and it shows that you are in fact a poor manager.

A newly hired manager or executive spends a lot of time getting to know the organization and its people. They integrate to innovate and they do it well. What worked at company X may not work at company Y as people have learned time and time again.

As for the MD that was hired for the new product development initiative? I can bet that he is going to find a lot of people working behind his back to derail his progress and as thus the whole company is penalized. That’s too bad because they find too often that their efforts bear little fruit and as thus they soon realize they made a mistake as does the person who hired them.

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