TIP 2: A key to building a great team - HIRE WELL!

What makes a strong team? Well, it’s having talented people operating in their best roles. It’s having people who can work well with one another and communicate effectively with each other. It’s having team members who are growth oriented and after the team’s success, not selfishly focused on their own success.

The interviewing process is critical to getting the team right. The following categories are important to evaluate in the process: the candidate’s current abilities, their potential, their sweet spot/passion, their teamwork orientation, as well as their willingness/desire to be challenged and grow.

The interview process should generally include the hiring manager, some of the hiring manager’s peers, the manager’s boss, and key business partners of the position. The following areas should be evaluated:

Current abilities: it’s important to determine whether the candidate has the ability to be able to perform the role. The hiring manager, her peers, and the business partners of the role should be evaluating the candidate for these abilities. 

Potential:  the hiring manager’s boss should be evaluating the runway or potential of the candidate. Ideally a candidate would have the potential to reach one or two levels higher or more than the position being interviewed for.   Clearly, abilities and potential are important, but so are these other categories listed below.  

Sweet spot/passion: the hiring manager and her peers should be interviewing for the candidate’s sweet spot/passion. They know the aspects and challenges of the position and can best assess how the candidate would enjoy the role.   The questions covered last week around the “best day at work” and the “worst day at work” helps shed some light on this for the candidate. If the candidate indicated the characteristics of their best day at work are the types of work that the position heavily entails, that could indicate a good fit for the role. If aspects of their worst day at work in the last three months have aspects that are meaningful parts of the role, this might be an area for further exploration and possible concern. 

Teamwork: the hiring manager and her boss should especially focus on teamwork fit, which is an important cultural aspect for any organization. It’s not enough to just hire for abilities or intellect. Team members need to be able to get along with others to be able to create strong teams. People who don’t play well with others create silos in the business which leads to awful communication, mistrust, poor teamwork, and low morale. The best people on the team often leave the team because of these issues so this is critical.  Listen deeply to the response to the two questions about the best and the worst day at work. How much of the best or worst is related to team and getting along with others? The responses to these two questions, and exploring the responses more deeply with additional questions, can reveal a lot about their emotional intelligence and ability to work with others. 

Wanting to be challenged: this is another important cultural aspect that the manager and her boss should be evaluating. How do they best operate with their boss. The hiring manager and the manager’s boss should be assessing this. A great question to explore this issue is “who is the best boss that you’ve ever had and why”? This question can help to see how receptive they are to feedback and to being challenged by their boss. If their “best boss” was a boss who “left them alone and didn’t micromanage them” that’s generally not a good sign and should be explored further. If their “best boss” was a boss who “was tough but fair,  really challenged them, and pushed them to get better” that is very encouraging and is a good sign that the candidate is receptive to feedback and is growth oriented. The manager and her boss should reflect deeply on whether the candidate fits into the company’s boss/employee culture well. 

Hiring well is critical to building a great team. Include broad participation of your peers, business partners, and your boss in the hiring process to get many perspectives. Interview for the candidate’s abilities, upside potential, sweet spot or passion for the work, teamwork, and willingness to be challenged.