A Perfect System For Leadership

Intent:

This proposal is intended for review by the leadership of Asgardia, it is my hopes they will review all data concerning this proposal and come to the same conclusions as I have that the current leadership selection process is flawed.  This proposal is a broad explanation of a perfect system that many organizations have used and used with much success.  Implementing a system as described below will greatly increase Asgardia's chances of choosing the right leader for the right position.  The current voting system does not accurately portray characteristics of a good leader, its primarily based off of social interactions, and does not measure many attributes, abilities, skills, and other areas needed to insure proper leadership placement.  After reading this proposal and interacting with all current leadership perhaps you may vote to change the current system.

This proposal is intended for “The Head of State” and all current leadership of Asgardia.

Submitted by John Fine 8 October 2017

I have interacted with many different systems of choosing leadership throughout my years as a human.  The one system that seems to always work and work well is the one I am about to propose we adopt for Asgardia.

Proposal:  Leadership elections,  5 step process

Step 1

Define the parameters

Define the distinct leadership positions, their roles, their goals, their qualifications, their abilities, education needed,  and so on.  Be clear and precise

If Asgardia plans on having Space Ark's then there should be positions created for this, along with Ambassadors, lead communication officers, mission support officers, maintenance workers, and officers, operational officers, and so on and so forth.  We have had enough presence in space to be able to extrapolate exactly what positions would be needed.  Most of the governmental positions have been posted along with Parliament however a detail list of duties, responsibilities, skills, education, and such should also be added and available to all.  Yes we all don't have the necessary background to do some of these positions but at least give us a way to determine that for ourselves.

This should all be found in one place, having to go from one link to the other is confusing, make it simple, many job sites like www.indeed.com have already done these type of interactions or platforms between the employer and the individual trying to acquire the job.  Yes this is not employment in our case but the principles are the same, the goals of the site are the same, they are trying to fill positions needed all around the world for the work force, in a fair and manageable method.  We are trying to fill positions for Asgardia in a fair and manageable method.  Incorporating their techniques into our own is logical and helps reduce confusion.

Step 2

For every position require a history or resume, a biography, and an interview (interview can be conducted over the web)(a popular site for a history is Linked-In https://www.linkedin.com/ )

It may seem some positions seem unimportant to require such things, however in keeping everything transparent and equal across the board we should have the same requirements for each position.

True certain positions will have higher education levels, higher cognitive abilities, and such, but these are all listed in the qualifications of the position.

With today’s technology it is very easy to conduct an interview from a persons phone, computer, or tablet.  I have done such things with little difficulty at all and it takes a mere 15 to 30 minutes to conduct a sufficient interview.  In some cases even less.

Step 3

Develop a test for every position that is specifically  designed to that position and post  the test  to the web site.

This test should test the persons cognitive abilities and any other abilities the person may need to fill the role of the position they are applying for.  The test should be honest, easy to read and understand, and written in the simplest way for all to understand.  The test should accurately test the individuals abilities and use a fair means in which to test those abilities.  (several agencies already offer these test and have them for a wide range of cognitive abilities as well as social, mental, mechanical, emotional, and physical. I suggest you start looking there) https://www.criteriacorp.com/solution/measure_leadership.php (one example but there are many)

(some military agencies offer these test as well and are a good place to look)

For me these test are important because they truly test the abilities of the person, we all like to think were capable of a great many things, however some of us are really good in one area while others in another, these test determine those who are the best in that particular area, the people who score the highest percentages should be eligible for the position.  If to many fall into the high percentile then we would fall back to the resume, biography, and interviews.  Normally this does not happen, the test usually narrows the parameters to the desired number needed.

In order to gain leaders of the highest potential these test should test minimum the following characteristics:

• Cognitive skills, include conceptual or strategic thinking, breadth of thinking, cognitive ability, and dealing with ambiguity.
• Personality variables,  include interpersonal skills, dominance, stability, resilience, and maturity.
• Learning ability,  includes adaptability, learning orientation, learning agility, and openness to feedback.
• Leadership skills,  include developing others, leading and managing others, and influencing and inspiring.
• Motivation variables,  include energy, engagement, drive for advancement, career drive, interests, career aspirations, results orientation, and risk taking.
• Performance record,  includes leadership experiences and performance track record.
• Knowledge and values,  include cultural fit and technical/functional skills and knowledge.

These test  should also evaluate these 7 leadership attributes- integrity, vision, judgment, passion, courage, empathy, and emotional intelligence.  These are all the hallmarks of a great leader, regardless of industry, application, or geography.

Step 4

Develop a board, or panel to conduct the interviews, this should be a diverse panel selected from every nation currently hosting Asgardia citizens.

The panel would need to come up with the method on how these  interviews are to be conducted.  The panel should have people on it that are familiar with conducting interviews, have experience in management, good social skills, and be a level headed person with universal ideology.

This panel should be limited to no more than 10 individuals, to many people on the panel would create confusion and disorganization.

All Asgardians should be able to apply to be on this panel, they would apply the same way as you would apply for employment, then the current leadership would select the 10 individuals they want to conduct the interviews.  All information of election process and selections should be posted and kept up to date.

Asgardians should submit their resume, relevant  history, and apply, the current leadership would pick the best 10 from their applications.

Step 5

Implement the application program

Have a application link that incorporates all the other steps, as the person gets through each step and completes the entire application process they are listed on a ranking system according to the positions they applied for.  This ranking system is updated weekly and remains in place until the final candidates are selected.  A time limit must be given for the entire process and each step should have a determined amount of time limit to keep things moving forward.  Individuals  are not selected by a simple vote from strangers but by their abilities and skills.  If they chose not to complete the process within a determined amount of time, then they are disqualified and removed from the ranking system.  Once the best individuals are selected they are posted unto the web site as the official representatives and a link to their office of operations is incorporated into their post, this allows everyone to directly be able to contact them about matters concerning their position.

The process may look something like this:

Web page name (Entrance Applications for leadership positions and other key roles)

upon opening the page there will be a listing of 5 areas, each area listed will be linked to the related subject.

2. Application
3. Resume and Biography
4. Applicable skills test
5. Interviews
6. Check your progress and ranking

These 5 steps should be integrated as levels, and you may not enter into any other level until the previous level has been completed.  Each level should have a time limit for completion, this in its self is a test of sorts, it will test the person ability to follow instructions, their drive to complete the task at hand, and their corroboration  skills.

The application link could be the same link used for the initial application used to join Asgardia. (or the Information link)   However addition information might be necessary to accommodate require information necessary to gain an accurate picture into a persons life, such as work history, family, personal skills acquired, and so on.  These items could easily be added to the application page already being used by Asgardia.

The resume and Biography could also be added to the drop down (My) links on the Asgardia website, it would be listed as (My Resume/Bio) then link step 2 into that link.

The applicable skills page could be linked to a hidden page on the Asgardia web site that list all current and future positions available.  Each position is linked to an applicable test site where the individual can take the suitable test for the position they are interested in.  Individuals may take multiple test for multiple  positions, once completed it would be listed on their information page.

If the test is set up correctly, it should rank the individuals potential to perform the position they are applying for.  Anyone not receiving a ranking above 80% should not be considered for the position.  This may seem unfair, however considering the scale of Asgardia, it should be considered, so that the best person with the best potential is placed in the position.

The interviews link could be linked to a request for interview page, this page then would be linked to a special email link set up just for the panel chosen to do the interviews.  Once they receive the request they would reply to the individual when they would like to do the interviews and how they would do them.  They would assess the individual on their performance during the interview, then rank the individual according to that assessment.  The assessment would be for the particular position applying for and overall character assessment.

Check your progress and ranking page could be linked to a page that shows all positions applied for and the individuals ranking for that position amongst all that applied.  The ranking is simple, after each step is completed the individual is given a grade for their completion, for instance if they have followed everything in step one within the time allotted they get 100%, for areas not completed 10% is deducted from their score, if they don't finish the step at all during the allotted time they get a grade of 50%.  On the applicable test and interviews there would be 2 scores, the first one would be the completion score the second would be the assessment score.    Combine all the scores together and divide them by 6 to get a final ranking score for the individual, then in conjunction of where they rank within all those that applied would give you the final ranking, say like 100 applied for a position and your score came in 25 place of those 100, your ranking would be 25.

Example:  John Doe

Application:  100%

Resume/Bio:  75%

Applicable test: 82% + 100%

Interviews:      85% + 100%

overall score 90.22%  ranking amongst those who applied:  10 ^{th place.}

Then you would pick those who have the highest ranking for the positions applied for, and if you have a need to fill any other positions in the future you can give those who did not make the previous selection process an opportunity to update and resubmit their information, retake the test, redo the interviews, and so forth,  to reestablish their ranking in the selection process, however they will be competing with new applicants as well.

Its true there are a great many ways to find ones abilities, simply voting for someone not knowing who they really are, what they have done, and what abilities they possess, seems to me to be dangerous and would allow a great amount of confusion, deception, group mentality, and resentment.  By allowing individuals to apply by their specific set of skills, be tested on such skills, and be able to defend such skills, not directly competing against any others, only going through the process and being selected solely on their abilities, skills, character and potential,  seems to me to be the best method of selecting leadership.

I have used this method and have seen it used in many diverse situations and in every case the right person was selected for the position.

As with any positions there are areas that are a must have,  and there are areas that would be considered a plus, there has also been in my case where my experience in the military was sufficient to advance me through some of the educational levels in different positions I held, we to should consider such things when listing the qualifications and such, there may be those who never got an education, but worked in certain areas for a great many years, and excelled in those areas as well, this should always  be considered and implemented in a fair way the allows everyone to participant.  Education is important but experience usually holds more weight in a real life situation.  Substitutions for certain qualifications should be allowed and encouraged but reason should also be considered into that equation.

References, graph’s, and resources.

http://static.kornferry.com/media/sidebar_downloads/KFALP_Technical_Manual_final.pdf

https://hbr.org/2003/12/developing-your-leadership-pipeline

http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/nashville/russellsimons

https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/8614/leadershipselect00mich.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

http://media.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ExecutiveSelection.pdf

https://www.criteriacorp.com/solution/measure_leadership.php

https://www.linkedin.com/

https://refcheck.com/2013/05/21/leadership-accountability-where-does-accountability-for-a-safe-workplace-lie/

https://hbr.org/2002/02/are-you-picking-the-right-leaders

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/criteria-picking-leader-30708.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/04/16/choosing-a-leader-3-things-to-look-for/#215690ec52bc

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-ways-pick-good-leader-kristiana-greenwood

http://aai-assessment.com/thought-leadership/power-of-cognitive-ability

https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/jbl/articles/volume4/issue2/Stabile4U.Pa.J.Lab.&Emp.L.279(2002).pdf

http://www.omniagroup.com/cognitive-assessments-in-hiring/

https://www.hoganassessments.co.uk/media/1695/why-is-personality-important-to-recruitment.pdf?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2011/09/13/pre-employment-testing-a-helpful-way-for-companies-to-screen-applicants/#31b69fc32606

https://hbr.org/2013/09/how-to-use-psychometric-testin

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/assessment-and-selection/other-assessment-methods/cognitive-ability-tests/

Thank you,  and all comments welcomed and received in a non-bias way with no animosity towards anyone.  Please vote yes on this petition if you feel it is in the best interest of Asgardia.

Please excuse any clerical, grammar, and punctuation errors, (that is not my field of expertise) but I hope you get the basics of my proposal.