Never Make a Hasty Hire

by David Gilliland | Oct 6, 2020

So, I received a flyer in my mailbox today titled “CONFIRMATION NOW!” They were trying to get me to call my senator to have them support Trump’s nominee. What was odd to me is that they have not even gone through the process yet. We don’t care who the candidate is, just give them the job. We don’t care if they are the best candidate for the job just as long as we fill the position. Politics! What a mess! Why can’t they run the government like a business?! …or perhaps they do.

Have we, the business owners and leaders, ever said, “I need someone yesterday!” or “Right now I just need a warm body to fill that role”, “He is my wife’s cousin”, or “I am sure we can train them up, just find someone who is willing to try”. Or even after a lengthy interview process, we come up with two candidates that we aren’t thrilled about but either would do OK? We as the leaders are allowed to move forward and check the box! Position filled! Now we can get back to our pressing day job… but there is a cost.

Profitability, Lost Time, Sanity, and Joy

Over the last two years I had the privilege of working with an Engineering Firm who’s revenues when we started were at 2.5 million and sliding. Sales were down, profits were negative, complaints were up, frustration was high, and the owner had to take a second mortgage out on his home to keep the business alive. All in all I would say they were a top candidate for the “Best Places to Work”. These were not looser business leaders. They were good people but were stuck in a rut.

After going through the hard work of defining a clear and compelling vision and strategy we began the steady work of putting the plan to action. On that journey we quickly realized that some of the team members didn’t fit…including one of the executives. Over the next 6 months, they focused on ensuring only the right people were part of the team and focused on executing on the strategy. The results are inspiring. Two years later their revenues are $4 million, sales are up, profits not only exist but are exceeding industry standard, customers are delighted and sending more of their work, and employees and leaders love their jobs. They don’t have to apply for the award “Best Places to Work”, they already know that they are one… and word is getting out.

Never Make a Hasty Hire!

Let me say it again, Never make a hasty hire! Here is the math. We each know that our best performers outperform the average worker by at least 2x. They can do the work as well as we can! While our worst team members take well over half of our personal time and deliver only half as much value as the average employee. So for every bad hire that you help find another organization where they can flourish and make room for a great hire you quadruple your productivity for that role and you get back some of your precious time to build the company. If you can ensure all are great performers and allow them room to grow. You will not only have a strong company financially, but you will come up with 20-30 hrs per week to focus on making your company great.

Never Make a hasty hire!…oh wait, I already said that. If you want to learn a proven methodology to attracting, winning, and retaining great talent who fit your team and bring energy to your company, there are no shortcuts. You have to start at the beginning:

VISION

Do the hard work to codify your Vision (Purpose, Core Values, Mission) – This will be a magnet for the candidates that will fit your company and thrive in its culture.

STRATEGY

Set a clear strategy. This will help you know which skills are needed on your team to succeed.

FUTURE ORG CHART

Envision your future organization and what roles will be needed to deliver on the mission you have identified.

ROBUST HIRING GAUNTLET

Set up a talent pipeline and robust hiring process that helps the business and the candidates to get real about what really matters and determine if there is a fit or not.

Then Hire, Lead, and Fire to the Vision

If you have not done this work before in the past, you will want a guide on the journey. There are some landmines and some foggy places where you can get lost in the weeds. At Elite Entrepreneurs we can help you out as we have many other business leaders and we would be honored to be on the journey with you.