The most important decisions business people make are not ‘what’ decisions but ‘who’ decisions. And Jim Collins is the expert in recruitment.
Are you familiar with the saying people are your business? Do you believe it to be true? We certainly do.
And we believe that one of the most difficult, yet most important elements of any business is the recruitment process, as Jim Collins is saying.
Hiring is life’s blood of a business, so it goes. The message is simple … some people are better than other people. More importantly, some people are a heck of a lot better than other people.
Check out our thoughts on team leverage.
During the hiring process, you really must take into consideration many candidate behaviors, attitudes, and strengths.
Even the person who is talented, sometimes they don’t have the right personality and team chemistry to add to your team. (Check out employee traits that will disrupt your business)
Bringing in exactly the right people is paramount for any business and teamwork is one of the most important ingredients for most businesses.
Related post: The Story and Zen of Getting Things Done
Tuning in during the interview process to gauge how well a person would fit in the office every day, where they’d inevitably interact with their colleagues and be part of the office ecosystem, matters quite a bit.
If you want to build an effective team, it starts with having the best people. Creating a talent advantage begins with smart hiring. That said, it never ceases to amaze me at the number of businesses who put little energy and time into mining for talent.
Smart leaders do more than just hire smart people – they have a smart hiring process and focus on the qualities they want.
Put simply; people matter. The problem is that very few people actually possess the talent to identify talent. Identifying and recruiting talent requires much more than screening a resume and having a set of standard interviewing questions to guide you.
There are issues of values, vision, culture, context etc. that need to be creatively and intuitively addressed in the hiring process.
In today’s post, we’ll share our philosophy on the best qualities to look for to ensure that you hire tier-one talent.
We recommend the following 10 behaviors, attitudes and strengths to look to hire and develop in both our and our client businesses:
Recruitment is life’s blood … judgment
Some employees speak when others won’t … a good thing. Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.
An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting, I said to him, “Why did you ask about that? You already know what’s going on.”
He said, “I do, but a lot of other people don’t, and they’re afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you.”
Remarkable employees have an innate judgment for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.
Types of recruitment … different
That pretty much sums up highly creative people: they are different. They will have different backgrounds to averagely creative people — and that background may very well include working experience.
They will behave differently to averagely creative people and they will offer different results: creative results. If you keep this in mind, it will not be hard to find and hire creative people.
The challenge will be challenging them sufficiently to keep them.
Team oriented
Look for those employees that recognize the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.
They always demonstrate their interest in others and their team.
Recruiting employees … results focused
The best employees are good problem solvers, examine problems in multiple ways and always keep results in their focus.
Their anticipation of issues keeps them thinking ahead on potential problems and they often have alternative options before problems arise.
Most of them realize that the problem of understanding is much more valuable than alternative solutions.
Change agent
The best employees are often a little quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual.
They seem slightly odd but in a really good way.
Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavor.
People who aren’t afraid to be quirky naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.
Creative spirit
An unusual personality is a lot of fun… until it isn’t.
When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team.
Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off.
It’s a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can wear their creative spirit with ease.
Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something.
Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to… but because they just can’t help it.
Not afraid to fail
You want the great ones who are not afraid to fail. The last thing they worry about is making mistakes or failing in a task.
They understand risks and realize progress depends on going a little beyond, even when they realize they won’t be right all the time.
Take initiative
The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.
They are good at taking initiative.
When a key customer’s project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there’s a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it’s not their job.
Passionate
The best employees are humble yet very passionate about what they love. The remarkable ones find strong egos very distasteful … yet they wear their passion 24/7.
They can as easily follow as to lead and in all situations pay attention to be strong team players.
Related post: 13 Daring, Yet Most Effective Interview Questions
