Experience vs. Potential: Who gets the job?

The big bosses of U.S. figure skating say they will announce Friday whether Michelle Kwan will compete in the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

The facts are these: Kwan, loaded with credentials and star power, missed the qualifying competition because of an injury. So her spot went to Emily Hughes, loaded with youth and potential, who won the right to compete through all the regular channels. But then the U.S. Figure Skating Association decided to make an exception and give Hughes' spot back to Kwan -- provided the veteran skater can prove by this weekend that she is fit to skate next month.

Is that fair? Is that smart?

The association's decision mirrors important hires that companies make all the time.

The Olympics is unlike business in some important ways. Its "jobs" come around only once every four years, and it's not really engaged in staff development. But the Kwan-Hughes choice does contain two issues common to company hires: Is experience or potential more important? And is it OK to throw out a selection process that had been laid out to all the job candidates?

Without exception, business leaders and executive recruiters said that in commerce and industry, Kwan would be the right call. Experience trumps potential when the hire needs to hit the ground running, so to speak. And selection processes have to be flexible enough to respond to the unexpected; following a process for the process' sake would be a mistake.

Good companies probably would find a place for both candidates, they went on to say -- an eventuality not open to this Olympic team, of course.

"I was just in a conversation with a [vice president] for talent management at a major bank, and he clearly indicated that when it's a tie, they go with performance over potential," said Leo Brajkovich, executive consultant on organizational development at Minneapolis-based Gantz Wiley Research.

"If a job is critical to our operations, we're probably going to be looking for a more experienced person," said David Goodwin, the CEO of Reviva, a Minneapolis re-manufacturer and distributor of diesel engines that employs about 200.

Beyond that, companies should mix it up, said Mike Frommelt, a principal at KeyStone Search, an executive recruiting firm in Minneapolis.

"Most really good organizations will have a combination," Frommelt said. "They'll know which positions they need to fill with someone very experienced and which they can fill with someone who might take a little more time for training."

Employers should sidestep a selection process if it makes sense, Brajkovich said.

"You want a process to serve your goal, and you never know who's going to walk through the door," he said.

(In fact, the skating association's selection committee said that its decision favoring Kwan -- a five-time world champion -- was based on the conviction that she was more likely to win a medal.)

Frommelt said businesses should set up a hiring process that is as fair and objective as possible. "But in the end there are always things that come in that seem unfair, that you couldn't have accounted for," he said.

Fairness is often misunderstood as "sameness," said David Stillman, a Twin Cities-based consultant specializing in intergenerational issues.

He described a company that refused an employee's request for every other Friday off, saying everyone would want that. The employee quit and went to another company where management said, "Let's figure out what you have to get done in order for us to be comfortable with that."

Stillman said the company then announced: "Mary Ann just got every other Friday off because she promised to meet 10 performance measures. Let's talk about 10 measures for you, and what you'd want as a reward for meeting them. Shift your work day earlier? Later? A company car?"

When younger employees complain that their potential went unrecognized, they're actually complaining of discrimination based on age and tenure, he said, as if institutional experience were a prerequisite for good ideas.

A final note on the complexities of fairness: The U.S. let once let another skater compete in the Winter Olympics by giving her a pass around the regular procedures. It was Nancy Kerrigan in 1994, after the awful attack on her arranged by Tonya Harding.

The young skater who then lost the place she'd earned on the team? Michelle Kwan.

More on meditation

A reader interested in last week's column about mindfulness meditation (www.startribune.com/a870) shared a national website that lists more programs available through the University of Minnesota, medical centers including the Veteran's Administration, and secular practitioners: www.umassmed.edu/cfm/.

What are your workplace issues? You can reach H.J. Cummins at workandlife @startribune.com. Please sign your e-mails; no names will appear in print without prior approval.