Why hiring right is most important when growing your business
The most important aspect of growing your business is the people you are going to hire. To put it bluntly, you are who you hire, another way to put it, your business is your people.
Hiring talented people is hard, it is hard because talented people, for the most part, aren’t looking for work, and they are sought after. They get snagged up by other talented people who recognize their talent.
Identifying talent is not subjective, and I’ll tell you why it’s not. They simply perform better than the rest. But more importantly, they can solve problems without having to ask for solutions, are interdependent and continually seek to develop their multidisciplinary skills.
The funnel then becomes the interview stage, where both you and the person you are hiring are evaluating each other.
You want to find the best fit, not purely based on skill, but rather on cultural fit, and diversity. And the hire is doing the same, looking whether they want to subject themselves to the reality of the working environment.
Diversity is italicized because bringing diversity to your organization can stop it from becoming myopic. Bringing in fresh perspectives and different world-views, while at the same time sharing the same values.
You determine the quality by which it occurs in appreciating and valuing the difference in others.
There are two problems among many that occur in hiring
one is when the potential hire that’s looking for work is willing to sacrifice their values to meet your demands because they are desperate to get any job.
Or they understand what they are worth and they are careful in planning on whether you become the right fit for them.
The former is the bigger problem if you can’t recognize that they are not a fit you will end up spending more money in the long term developing these individuals and then having them leave you with more than what they came in with.
I don’t have any issue with developing my team, that’s something I am proud of and continue to do. I do have an issue with hiring people just because there is a spot that needs to be filled.
Talented individuals aren’t in search of a stepping stone to get into the next position that will pay them more, instead, they’re focused on the contribution there making in the organization knowing that the by-product of that will lead them to develop their skills to further their career aspirations.
This comes down to careful deliberation and planning in the hiring process. Which brings me to my next point.
You and I both make snap judgments, and it’s in these judgments that we prime ourselves during the interview stages.
It is unavoidable, yet it is possible to identify that you are making these judgments of someone purely based on their appearance; what they wear, how they talk, or even how they walk.
Not understanding that you are going to judge someone based on their exterior persona will automatically prime you into validating your reason for how you judged that individual.
“Prejudgements are limiting and often inaccurate paradigms. They keep you from appreciating and finding value in differences.” The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
For example, asking a candidate whether they got fired or quit will give you something to look at that’s not there, you distort the reality and look for things to validate the premise you had about them from your judgment.
Being less general and more specific when asking questions, based on the person, not the sheet of paper with the questionnaire you have in front of you will give you a better idea as to who the person is, despite their flawed persona.
Conversation is where the magic happens.
Have a conversation with the person you are hiring not an interrogation. That’s where you can get specific with the person you are hiring. There is no cookie-cutter approach to this, however, there is a foundation on which to build from.
It can look like this;
Hi, fill in the blank, tell me a little bit about yourself. What did you learn from XYZ? Why did XYZ matter to you and what did you learn from it?…
All the conversations I have when I interview candidates spin off into places I wouldn’t have imagined them going prior to starting the conversation.
People are interesting and have interesting things to say if you let them, by guiding them through and not by subduing them into a submission.
You are the gatekeeper to unlocking individuals talent, remove the barriers and let them prove to you what they are capable of without borders, restrictions, rules, and guidelines.
Talented people will attract other talented people, and if you hire people who aren’t talented and stick them with people who are you are going to lose that talent.
So where does this leave us?
Look at your current approach of how you hire people. Recognize that everyone is flawed, and those who are diverse are the people you want to hire, considering that they fit with your culture and values.
Don’t settle for less than great.
If you can’t see the synergy, someone who can work with others in a dynamic environment contributing to the bigger picture, avoid hiring them.
Lastly, when you go through all the motions and you find the best talent, someone who matches up to your organization’s values, hire them.
Keep them by compensating them for what they are worth, not what the industry standards tell you they are worth in the position they embark on.