I am so frustrated – so disappointed!” – phrases I hear too often as leaders wrestle with the reality of past not-so-good hiring decisions.
Have you wrestled with the consequences of a not-so-great hiring decision?
You have likely experienced the impact of an employee’s negative attitude. It represents not only significant relational tension but also much wasted time – precious time! A poorly chosen employee contributes to much extra work, frustration, an unhealthy work environment, limited trust and limited confidence in the work they do.
As a leader you see the “glass half full” – they see it as half…..
Many years ago I made a terrible hiring decision. I, in my naivety, had convinced myself that I was good enough to “turn the person around”. This individual was quite skilled and yet was known to bring a challenging attitude to work. I ignored the “data”. I paid the price, and so did my team. I resolved that I would…
Most leaders understand that they, themselves, are not perfect. Healthy leaders are eager to grow their capacity to engage and lead well as they add new members to the team.
A number of years ago I heard the mantra:
In a March 2014 HBR article, Greg McKeown, author of “Essentialism The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”, echoes the same mantra. He highlights a number of practices we have used to hire great people. These have proven most helpful in minimizing the risk of us making a poor hiring decision.
Here are 10 clear steps we use that can help you “hire slow” and reduce the risk of a poor hiring decision.
- Commit to learning and growing your character and competency as a leader. You cannot lead people to places you have not gone in your own character – your own leadership!
- Intently and unswervingly cultivate a REMARKABLE team culture where awesome people WANT to come and work with you and the team.
- Be CRYSTAL CLEAR on what’s most important for your business. Are your personal purpose and values, and that of your business, clear? Are they based on the call of Christ to love and to make disciples? Are they based on the character of Christ?
- Invite your team to recommend those in their community who would be a really good hiring fit.
- If you must “recruit”, ensure that your ads discourage those who would not be a culture fit, from applying. Why waste your time on filtering through resumes and interviewing people who are not a fit.
- Focus on uncovering “who” this person is. During the hiring process, once you have established that an individual has the required competencies for the role, “throw away the resume”. Character is what is most crucial.
- Ask thoughtful, artful questions that will uncover how they have shown up under pressure, how they have chosen to treat people when the boss is not around, how they have owned their mistakes, how they view themselves, people, and their work.
- Being a friend or family only provides an opportunity for an interview (if they have a history of leading themselves well). Jobs are not a guarantee just because they are friend or of the owner.
- Listen to your “gut”. If you feel a niggling around a topic being discussed, go there. Thoughtfully, respectfully ask them questions: what happened in that specific situation, how did they respond, what was their motivation, how did others feel about it, how did they engage with those impacted and why?
- Have 1 – 3 other people on your team engage in one-on-one “coffees” with the candidate. This will help ensure you are not missing anything and ensure that this individual will be a great fit with the team.
Hiring is not-an-exact-science. However, taking these 10 steps will help ensure you are making a wise, informed decision. Not being rigorous in these steps is not fair to you, your team or to the person you are looking to hire.
How rigorous are you with these 10 steps?
Deliberate Action:
- Thoughtfully and prayerfully reflect on the hires you have made over time. Are you pleased with the hiring decisions made? Why or why not?
- Which of the 10 steps are strengths for you? Which are weak?
- How is God informing your thinking about people, recruitment and the invitation to have people join your team?
- What scriptures may He be using to inform you?
- What steps can you take to make “hiring slow” a deliberate practice?
