LEADERS DON’T JUST HIRE COMPETENT PEOPLE

This past week, I experienced a very personal reminder about the necessity and advantages of hiring the correct people.

During the past several decades, I have seen leaders at the team, department, and organizational levels make hundreds of hires. A great majority of those hires took place at Georgetown University Law Center..

In all those cases, I met new colleagues with a sense of curiosity. I asked myself questions like

-Where did she come from?

-What are his strengths?

-How will she contribute to the success of that team?

-How will he fit in to that department’s culture?, and

-How will she function as a teammate with her colleagues?

Leaders rarely know all of these answers when they hire a new employee. They can hope, they can help, and they can offer. In reality, they don’t know if a new team member is really going to work out.

How many times have you reviewed a candidate’s CV and thought she would be a great fit on your team? Then you hire the person, she starts working with you and your colleagues, and she doesn’t work out at all. You ask yourself, “Wait a second, who is this person? This is not the person I hired. This is not the person who is reflected on that CV. This is not the person who references raved about. “

I’m guessing we have all been there and done that. Then the question becomes how long do we wait while we try to train up this new team member and see if he can turn the corner? When we conclude that he cannot effectively do so, the question becomes when and how do we cut the cord.

These experiences we’ve had remind us that when we hire new teammates, we must hire not only for competence but also for character.

Many years ago when I used to teach “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” at Georgetown University, I talked about the “Two C’s, “character and competence. Graphically, they were represented by the picture of a beautiful oak tree. The strong, sturdy trunk, the picturesque branches, and the beautiful green leaves represented competence. They were above the ground and thus easily seen.

Character, however, was represented by the roots of the tree. The roots were all underground. They could not be seen. They were invisible to the human eye. And yet they were the buttress and the foundation for the entire tree, it’s present and its future strength.

It is very hard to learn people‘s true character during the job interview process. That’s why we rely so heavily on personal references. But we all know that people choose and list their references very carefully, picking only past colleagues and managers who they know will say good things

I was reminded of this process on Tuesday morning when I arrived for surgery at Georgetown Hospital at 5 AM.

Every single nurse, administrator, tech, person, and dr. I encountered was kind, courteous, interested, and even funny. They engaged me in conversation, they asked me questions about myself, they revealed things about their own careers, and they talked about what it’s like working at Georgetown Hospital.

Of course, part of this was due to the fact that I ask questions. One of the questions I posed was “is everybody here so nice because it’s built into the organizational culture or because this hospital focuses on hiring good people? “

To a person, everyone answered “it’s because they focus on hiring good people. “

So as you move forward on your leadership journey, please remember that hiring competent people is important. I urge you to also remember that hiring good people is even more critical.

Make it a good week, my friends, and be grateful for all the positive things in your lives.

If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!

-Larry