Right person for the right job! - sounds simple? It's not always.
We had positioned a competent engineer as a factory manager, years back. He had all reasons to succeed - good shopfloor experience, good with people, technically strong, had done union agreements. But in a completely new geography, with the language and culture unknown, he couldn't do well. Any number of conversations on inputs, support didn't work. We moved him to a completely different, in a new geography and setting. He did reasonably well there.
We positioned a bright IITian as incharge of quality in a plant. It was a very exciting role and his predecessors with similar profiles had done very well in this role. The role was demanding in terms of complexity and interface with a diverse set of stakeholders. He miserably failed, to our shock and disbelief. We had conversations on concerns and support required, but situation hardly changed. We moved him into another role, in another plant, focused on a new technology project. He did pretty well.
While, we deploy well oiled processes to identify and position talent for critical positions, we can get it wrong a few times. The system also considers growth and learning aspirations of individuals in positioning people.Thankfully,
instead of labeling the resource as incompetent, we try to match the requirements with specific capabilities after such experiences. But these experiences dent the confidence of individuals. And despite such efforts in offering newer and different roles, few individuals may still not fit into these roles well, and fail to deliver.